Shadowchasers: Dark City Chronicles
by Lux-Nero
Summary: Welcome to New York City - If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere! Whether you be a creature of the day or night, opportunity is just waitin' for you! However, many dark shadows seep through the crowded streets. Sequel to Risen Nemesis
1. Draw 0: Gathering of Malice

_**Lux-Nero:**_ HELLO, PARTY PEOPLE!

And welcome to the long anticipated sequel to my first Shadowchaser story – Risen Nemesis. In all honesty, I didn't see myself bringing this story to light, but frankly, I just couldn't let any loose ends go untied. And frankly, I feel that this should be something big and something that can rival, if not surpass, my original Shadowchaser work.

Now, a few things to point out, and this shouldn't be too much of a surprise, its just to explain a few things and get some legal stuff out of the way.

First, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! DM/GX/5D's/ZeXal or the Shadowchaser theme that this story was based off of. Now, don't get me wrong, I would love to claim that I do own them, but I'd rather not take my chances with that, what with the chance of lawsuits and getting kicked off this site… -shivers-

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, I have to give a little foreword, for example the background for this story – The location that I decided to base this story on was the futuristic version of New York City, and I figure that since Domino City was able to update itself with technology, why not the rest of the world? But since it's still a little debatable when 5D's takes place in our time frame, I'll just leave it as a possible future and it's not to be taken as what may happen. Heck, just look at ZeXal.

Next, for those of you who had read my work before, you know that I have quite a few tricks hidden in my author sleeve, and those will be used here as well. One such trick is that I prefer to use the original Japanese terms for my fictions. For example:

Duel Runner = D-Wheel

Turbo Duel = Riding Duel

And etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying the work of the dubbers, but everyone has their own style and I have the First Amendment on my side here. Besides, I'm not a fan of 4Kids, I doubt anyone is now-a-days...

For the next key point, this concerns the duels in my stories. I wasn't a fan of the whole forbidden lists in my previous stories, cause I figured that people could just do custom jobs on the Duel Disk system to accept the cards (It's the future again, a lot of people can be tech savvy). But, in order to get people off of my back, I will be using the September 1 forbidden list for this fiction, so yeah.

Finally, we get to another section of the dueling aspect – Riding duels!

This story takes place a few years after both 5D's and Risen Nemesis, specifically, three years after 5D's final episode, so we're in between what happens in 5D's and ZeXal. That being said, since what we learn what happens to the crew of 5D's takes place 5 years after the final duel between Jack and Yusei, Speed World 2 will be in effect for riding duels.

For those of you who don't know, Speed World 2 works like this…

**Speed World 2**

**Field Spell**

**Effect:** If a Spell Card other than a 'Speed Spell' card is activated, its controller takes 2000 damage. During each player's Standby Phases, each player places 1 Speed Counter of their own on this card (up to 12 each). You can remove any number of your own Speed Counters from this card to activate an appropriate effect:

4) Inflict 800 damage to your opponent for each 'Speed Spell' Spell Card in your hand

7) Draw 1 card.

10) Select and destroy 1 card on the field.

And there we go.

And one more thing before you start reading this, you see, by the time this stuff is up, ZeXal should be up to a decent point where we can all pretty much understand the plot and the Exceed Monsters (which in my opinion could've been done much better in my opinion and I prefer using Exceed instead of Xyz, so don't get on my case), and so, I will say this, I may or may not use any cards that have appeared in this newest generation of Yu-Gi-Oh, so, we will see.

So, to all you readers, pull up a chair, turn on your favorite action song, and scroll down to enjoy the story.

**TTTTTTTT**

_**These streets, these very streets that I grew up on, it almost seems like an eternity since I stepped foot on them. And here I am, nothing more than a phantom stalking the remnants of my past in hopes of finding what I have been searching for these last six years.**_

_**What is Truth?**_

_**What is Justice?**_

_**Never in my nightmares did I dream that the answers to these questions would be here.**_

_**New York City.**_

_**The place where everything began, so, I suppose it's only natural that this be the place where everything should end. But knowing my luck, it's not going to be easy, nothing worth in this life ever is. My previous experiences and investigations have proven that to be true, and frankly, in this city of beginnings, this will just be a harsher truth.**_

_**But just to tell you, I don't care about any of the obstacles that might and will get in my way. **_

… _**All I care about are a few things that are important in my life…**_

… _**And one of those things was taken unjustly from me.**_

_**Destiny? Fate? Even the gods above? I won't let something as petty as those get in my way.**_

_**I'm after a dream or rather a nightmare here, and I'll shatter anything that comes my way to get to it!**_

_**Who am I?**_

_**Heh, didn't I already tell you? I'm just a phantom stalking the remains of my past.**_

_**Ready set? **_

_**Riding Duel! Acceleration!**_

**TTTTTTTT**

**Lux-Nero Productions**

**Presents**

**Shadowchasers:**

**Dark City Chronicles**

**TTTTT**

_Time: 11:51 p.m. (U.S. Time)_

_Location: Countryside of Yorkshire, Britain_

_? Detention Complex _

"EVERYBODY LISTEN!"

"For the love of… Turn that crap off!"

"Hey! Screw you!"

"Both of you shut up! Or I'll throw you both in the hole!"

Tensions were starting to rise in this detention complex, not only because of the obvious fiction between the prisoners, but also the fact that the one prisoner who had the remote for the recreation center had turned on the pro league channel. The one who usually got the remote was the one prisoner who had the best behavior.

And currently, the holding the remote was a gentleman with extremely long black hair that seemed to sleek back down to almost his ankles, his uniform surprisingly kept clean, and he even had a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes (another perk of being a well-behaved prisoner). In fact, the only thing that stuck out about this guy was the fact that at the front of his neck seemed to be a golden eye that seemed to merge in his skin with a weird jewel in its center, and over that seemed to be a small silver band that glowed slightly.

"Is it that annoying to watch this sort of thing?" The remote wielding prisoner asked waving the remote around in the air.

"YES!" a chorus of voices sounded out.

"Well too bad!" the prisoner laughed back as he lifted up a special water bottle to his mouth.

"Childsman!" One of the nearby guards growled, making sure to keep his distance. "Don't even think about starting trouble."

"Hey, if they don't like what I'm watching," The remote wielding prisoner replied casually. "They don't have to watch. There are plenty of other things to do around her, like lifting weights, playing cards, or learning how to not drop the soap. HAHAHA!"

Most of the prisoners wanted nothing more than to take turns holding down and punching Childsman for those remarks, but in the past three and a half years he'd been here, the man had managed to do some interesting things in the joint. Like speaking to the guards to talk to the higher ups to get more literature, better work out equipment and such.

Not like they were interested in losing those kinds of perks.

"Now then," Childsman smirked as he turned his attention back to the television. "I made a promise that I'd watch this. And I intend on watching it to the end."

**TTTTTTTT**

_**Draw 00**_

_**Gathering of Malice**_

**TTTTTT**

_Time: 11:58 p.m._

_Location: Warehouse District, New York Harbor _

It was a muggy, summer night on the Hudson River, an eerie fog stirring along the lined up warehouses as the night's moon gleamed overhead, reflecting off of the soothing river. The sounds of engines roaring echoed through the air, almost as if they were accompanying the fog around the darkened area.

However, there was another sound that seemed to fit in well with all the noise that was standard with the streets of the Big Apple…

"EVERYBODY! Can you see me? Can you hear me?"

Indeed, gathered in front of one of the warehouses were a trio of young men dressed in dirtied gray uniforms with helmets at their feet, all three of them gathered around a small television that was on a small crate. The old TV's screen displayed a large arena that was in that was surrounded by several tall skyscrapers in the midst of an illuminating "I welcome you to the twenty-first U.S. Riding Duel Championship! For those of you just joining us, the current champ of California had just arrived on the scene! So, give it up for Leorina Childsman!"

… One that was the main focus, concerning the small television where the trio was gathered around, "This current challenger fought against all odds and ends to get here… all in a unique way to achieve this level of strength. But, does she have the courage to face against the on-going champion?"

"Today we'll find out! But, not before we get a word from our sponsors!"

As the screen shifted to show several commercials, the small group groaned loudly in unison. The first of the group slammed his fist against the side of the warehouse, "Damn it! Why do they always do that?"

"Eh, advertisers," the second mook sighed holding up a bottle of soda to his lips. "You know how greedy those guys are."

The remaining man just leaned up against the building, his arms stretched out, his eyes leering towards the main door where all three of men were ordered to guard this entrance way for the evening.

"How about you toss me some of that pizza since we're waiting?" The leaning guard asked getting the other two guards' attentions.

"Hey I bought it, and I even brought the TV," The seated guard retorted as he waved a pizza slice at the leaning guard. "You're lucky that I was even able to sneak this TV here."

"Why do we even have to guard this place anyway?" The third guard asked with a loud yawn following. "It's not like anyone would even come to this part of the city anyway at this hour. Never know who you're going to run into on a night like this."

"True that," The second guard chuckled rubbing his chin.

Unknown to the three guards, there were a number of individuals who were sticking to the shadows, each of them acting as quiet as the night's fog. One of those shadows was leaned up against the corner of the warehouse, keeping an eye on the three guards out front. Slowly, the shadowed figure lifted up a hand to its head and spoke softly, "Irving, there are three guards in the front."

"Can you identify what they are?"

"One seems to be human," the shadowed figure spoke back quietly. "The other two seem to be a Shadowkind, if I had to ballpark it, I think one's a Lycan, branching to the cat family, I think. And the other seems to be a bugbear. How about you, Irving? Any on the roof?"

To the normal person's eyes, they would only see three bickering guys complaining about random stuff. But, to a certain kind of people, they would see something rather different about two of the three bickering goons were different from the one regular guy there (however, he was still weird with his bright pink hair).

The second tallest of the three was a large burly goon, with wild purple hair (obviously dyed) that covered the right half of his face, while being dressed in a leather jacket and tattered jeans over his muscular physique. His face was filled with beastly features – Small sharp fangs, a black stout nose and black fur covering his face and every other part of him that exposed through his clothes. His hands were large and ended in long claws that were wrapped around a slice of pizza.

The final goon, while he was the tallest and biggest of the three, he was fiercer looking than the purple haired goon. He had long wild hair that curved around his slightly feline face as if was a lion's mane, and like the previous goon, he had clawed hands and had a small layer of tan colored fur covering his skin.

"There doesn't seem to be any activity, but still, we have to be careful here, we don't know what's going inside."

"Its just some punks stealing some D-Wheels, isn't it? What do we have to worry about?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Hardin. You know that we've got reason to believe that these guys are with the BackDraft Gang…"

"Right, I'll be sure take it easy… What about Taiga and Hitsuji? Are they in place?"

"Roger that, Taiga's got the back entrance and Hitsuji's ready on the other side. I'm making my way to the roof of the building. Prepare to infiltrate on my mark…"

"You got it," Hardin replied. "Whenever you…"

"Hold on a second."

"Huh?" Hardin questioned, blinking a few times. "What's wrong?"

"There's a skylight on here, I can see inside the building… And I can see the D-Wheels, looks like Taiga's informant was right."

"**HA! In your face Hitsuji! You owe me a burger!"**

"… _Oh m-man…"_

"Both of you keep quiet! There's something going on in here… I think there's something going on in there. Hardin, how does it look out front?"

"Whatever is going on in there," Hardin answered back. "The three out here don't seem to notice. Irving, what's going on in there?"

"It's too far for me to tell from here… You three, stay in position until I give the word. I'm going in to get a closer look."

"Roger."

"**Humph, fine."**

"_Y-Yes sir!"_

**TTTTTTT**

_Five minutes earlier…_

Heavy footsteps echoed through the air as they became louder and louder, getting closer towards the warehouse that the three guards were standing in front of. "Hello losers."

Almost immediately, all three of the guards stood up straight and saluted towards the oncoming figure in the fog. All three of them stood up straight and spoke out loud towards the newcomer, "Grogg, sir!"

Whatever light was coming from over the warehouse's door seemed to be drawn to the newcomer, revealing a towering man who stood at least at seven and a half feet tall, all of it pure muscle that seemed to struggle within the confines of his clothes, which seemed to consist of a white button up shirt, tight black pants and a large silver vest over his muscular body. The odd thing about him though was atop of his chiseled head was silver hair that was pulled back into a pair of hair tails that he had resting on his shoulders. An interesting point about this man was that on his left cheek was a large, golden mark that was almost painted on his face. "Good to see the two newbies know my name already. Typhon, I assume that you're showing these two the ropes?"

The largest of the group (although, when compared to this mountain of a man, he was a shrimp) stepped forward, relaxing a little bit when addressed by his name. He may not have been as big as Grogg, but he was still impressive of course with a slightly muscular body and short blonde hair with a matching beard that almost made him resemble that of a lion. Unlike Grogg, he was actually dressed for the cold night, a leather jacket, black shirt and blue jeans, although, it was a given that they had seen better days. "Of course sir, I got them…"

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice," Grogg yawned loudly as he turned towards the doors of the warehouse. "But I don't care. We get any new additions to our stock in the last week?"

"But of course," Typhon chuckled wagging his fingers. "The boys even managed to get their hands on a customized black Honda CBR1000RR and…"

"A what?" Grogg questioned, his head tilted to the side slightly with his eyes blinking a few times.

"Uh… A Fireblade styled D-Wheel, sir," Typhon answered with a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. "Kinda a classic model, but still works well for…"

"Sweet," Grogg answered with a large, goofy grin on his face as he headed for the door. "I know what you're talkin' 'bout. I just didn't get the technical name down. In any case, I wanna see what else we got, ya know, inspect the goods before we get them on the market."

"Be our guest, Boss," Typhon answered back kicking open the nearby door. "Want one of us to go in and show ya where it is?"

"Do I look like I need a babysitter?" Grogg growled as he crossed his arms over his chest as he slowly stepped into the warehouse, the door slowly closing behind him. "Please don't insult my… Uh, how does that one saying end?"

"Intelligence?" one of the other guards muttered out loud.

"Right! Thanks!" Grogg chuckled loudly as the door slammed closed behind him.

A few seconds passed before the remaining guard sighed loudly, "Yeesh, does anyone else think that he's a bit of a rock head?"

"Would you prefer the slave driver?" Typhon asked back reaching into a nearby crate to pull out a pizza box and a small portable television set. "Unlike his brother, Grogg actually allows us to slack off. Works out well when your boss is a slacker."

"I kinda miss my old boss," the same guard groaned slightly. "He may have been a loan shark, but he paid well and I didn't have to stay out late at night."

"What are you complaining about?" The third guard retorted. "This job is cushy; all we gotta do is just hang out and make sure no one gets in or out of here. Now, turn on that sucker, it's almost time for the NYC Championship match!"

"You're such a kid," Typhon snickered.

**TTTTTT**

Despite looking a bit rundown on the outside, the warehouse was surprisingly well-kempt on the inside, with a cool atmosphere circulating through out the building. It was one of the times that Grogg had thought ahead to do, after all, buying air conditioner for the warehouse that was in his name allowed him to enjoy many a warm nights when he wanted to be alone.

This was one of those times.

But as Grogg walked through the large warehouse, he couldn't help but smirk at the sight of all the 'treasures' that he and his associates had acquired through the last month as the lights in the warehouse slowly began to light up. To his right, several crates that had shipping order forms slapped on them.

And to his left, all lined up in a perfect set up was a trail of fancy motorcycles, each with their own customizable charms. Taking a moment to stop, Grogg smirked as he looked over one of them, admiring the vehicle as if it were a fine prized jewel. "I may need to sell these bad boys, but that's no reason not to save the best for myself. Some real choice parts here! The Brigadier won't lose to anyone once I get the tech guys to work their magic…"

Turning away from the motorcycle, Grogg continued his trek deeper into the warehouse, looking for his latest treasure.

It didn't take long for the mountainous man to discover his latest acquisition to his trove of mechanical treasures; he had always informed his mooks to place the latest additions to the end of the line of motorcycles, just to up the anticipation.

And the moment that Grogg's eyes met with the latest addition, "Ooh, yep! That's definitely a Fireblade, baby!"

Speeding up his pace, Grogg finally reached the searched out motorcycle, his eyes almost tearing up at the sight of the customized vehicle, "Oh hohoho! Yes, this is definitely the two-thousand and eight model: four valves per cylinder, dual stage fuel injection, close-ratio six-speed, automatic dueling system and if I can recall, this kind of model's torque gets well over eight thousand rpm!

"And that's before customization! And the red wing decals really add a nice touch to the outward design!"

Lifting his head up, Grogg struggled to hold back the tears that were welling up in the corners of his eyes, "This… This is a thing of beauty! This is just the pick me up that I needed! Once I get the boys work their magical charms on this, the Brigadier will not only be unstoppable, but it'll be totally awesome!

"The chicks won't be able to resist me!"

"That's your reason for this?"

Grogg's eyes widened as he looked around the warehouse, "Who the hell said that? Who's there?"

The voice didn't answer back, making Grogg narrow his eyes as he stepped away from the motorcycle, "Show yourself you rat! Otherwise I'll…"

Grogg didn't finish before a smell lofted through the air, the smell of tobacco burning. Taking a few sniffs, Grogg slowly turned back towards the Fireblade that he was admiring nary a few moments ago, his eyes widening at the sight of someone standing alongside the motorcycle, casually smoking a cigarette. '_How the hell did I miss this guy?'_

Standing alongside the D-Wheel appeared to be a older gentleman (roughly in his early thirties) with messy spiked back black hair that had quite a few strands of lighter colored hair in the front and he had a little bit of a five o'clock shadow to his face. He was dressed in a black jacket that had the sleeves rolled up with a white (with a weird black design on it) shirt, gray cargo pants and dark gray army boots.

The man just seemed to stand there, enjoying the cigarette in his mouth. "Care for a cigarette?"

"Heh, cocky," Grogg scoffed cracking his knuckles. "You lost old man?"

The smoking man raised an eyebrow at Grogg, "… Old man?"

"I don't see any other foggies here," Grogg chuckled loudly. "I don't know how you got in here, but you're going to be leaving here in a body bag."

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh?" The smoking man replied, crossing his arms at the larger man in front of him. "I just offer you a cigarette and you wanna kill me."

"You're on my property, old man," Grogg replied. "That means legally I can kill ya…"

"You have a screwed up sense of justice, horn head," the smoker commented, making Grogg blink a few times.

"Wait… You can tell what I am?" Grogg questioned raising an eyebrow at the smoker. "Wait a sec, what's that mark on your face? It kinda looks like a criminal mark, but…"

"Hard not to notice that ugly mug of yours," the smoker answered back with a smirk on his face.

"Just for that, gramps," Grogg snarled pulling his fist back. "Yer face is on the wrecking list first!"

Grogg slammed his leg forward, and threw his fist towards the smoker, only for his large fist to collide with nothing more than the air. "What the…?"

That's when a powerful burning pain erupted from Grogg's chin, making his eyes widen as he realized that the smoker's foot slammed into the bottom of his chin, making the larger man stagger backwards. "You… Bastard!"

Before Grogg could get a counter attack in, the smoker had spun around and slammed that same foot right into Grogg's chest, right underneath the rip cage, knocking the air out of the larger man and making him stagger even further backwards. "GAH!"

"Here's a little tip," The smoker stated lowering his leg down as he quickly walked towards the Fireblade motorcycle. "Don't steal from someone who can kick your ass."

"Sounds like you should follow your own advice," Grogg growled, holding his stomach. "Those attacks may have stung, but they aren't enough to take me down for the count! I can still…"

A loud engine roar blasted through the warehouse as a powerful light shown right into Grogg's eyes, "W-What the hell?"

When his eyes finally managed to adjust to the light, Grogg quickly stepped to the side just in time to dodge the speeding D-Wheel that was about to collide into him. Grogg stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before he finally began to give chase, "HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Meanwhile, hidden up in the girders…

"Heh, that's some nice style he's got there," a shadowed man chuckled as he brought up his hand to his head. "Hardin, Taiga, Hitsuji! We're going to get ready to move in! But I need one of you to do something… Who's closest to their D-Wheel?"

**TTTTTT**

_Back outside…_

"Man, Typhon, where'd you find this TV?" one of the other mooks questioned before he swiped a piece of pizza from the nearby box. "The sound quality is amazing! It's almost like the D-Wheels are coming right at me!"

"Yeah! I must've gotten a great deal!" Typhon chuckled through a mouthful of pizza.

"… Guys, I don't think it's the TV," The third mook replied, standing up from the ground, and getting into a defensive stance. "I hear something coming closer!"

"Man, you really let Sin City get to your nerves," Typhon muttered with a shake of his head. "Look ya bugbear, I know you're still getting used to the Big Apple, but that's no excuse to…"

The sound of metal shattering filled the air, making all three of the mooks jump to the side to see the very same D-Wheel Typhon was describing earlier to Grogg had just rammed right through the rusted over metallic door, allowing the vehicle to speed on the concrete and dash off.

"Wow…" Typhon muttered at the sight of the disappearing D-Wheel. "Don't see that everyday."

"What are you asses doing?" Grogg shouted from the gapping hole in the metallic door. "Don't just stand there, Typhon, get after! And you two, get as much stuff out of here as fast as you can!"

"Y-Yes sir!" Typhon and the other two mooks yelped out as they turned around and ran into the warehouse.

"Damn it," Grogg snarled as he stepped out from the large gaping hole in the warehouse. "Just who the hell was that rat?"

Growling loudly, Grogg immediately reached into his pocket and produce a comically small (if anyone else was holding it, it would've been regular sized) cell phone and pushed a button on it. "And if there's one thing I know for sure, if there's one rat you see, there are plenty that you're not seeing. Damn it, and there were so many treasures here."

The sound of a roaring engine blasted through the air, and a few seconds later, a single D-Wheel flew past Grogg, its rider was none other than Typhon with a helmet covering his head. Grogg narrowed his eyes as he began to walk away slowly, "It's me. Now, don't get mad, but the warehouse, it's been… Uh, what's that word?

"Right! Compromised! Hey! I said not to get mad!"

"H-Hold it!"

Grogg slowly looked over his shoulder and snorted as he noticed a smaller individual standing a few feet behind him, brandishing what appeared to be a sword. "… Like I said, plenty of other rats that I didn't see before…"

**TTTTTTT**

With the motorcycle racing through the warehouses, it didn't take long for the smoker to find his way back to the main road, aiming to get away before he was…

"FOUND HIM!"

Making a harsh right turn, the smoker barely managed to weave out of the way of Typhon's oncoming D-Wheel, cutting him off from his escape. The goon that had cut the smoker's path off continued chasing the smoker. "You're not going to get away from stealing from me, ya damn thief!"

"Look who's talking!" the smoker snapped back swerving slight to dodge some of the larger pieces of trash that were on the concrete ground. "You guys are the crooks who jacked my ride here! Has New York really gotten so rotten that a guy can't even get a cup of coffee without worrying about his vehicle getting stolen?"

"We're living in a new age, jackass!" Typhon laughed loudly, starting to gain on the smoker's D-Wheel. "This world is based on survival of the fittest! To me, you're nothing more than a gazelle on the prairie and I'm the lion that's about to sink his teeth into your hide!"

'_Sounds like something a Shadowkind would say,'_ The smoker thought with a shake of his head as he pushed a few buttons on his D-Wheel. '_In any case, looks like the only out of here is through the boroughs… I don't need to get others involved with this, so thank you technology. _

'_You finally did something that I can use!'_

With the settings made, the smoker finally revved up the speed on the motorcycle and pulled away from the chasers.

Typhon's eyes widened behind his helmet's visor, making him grit his teeth loudly, "You're not going to get away that easily!"

"It's never easy," The smoker replied taking another turn, aiming for the direction he was going for before Typhon had cut him off. "So if you want this D-Wheel, you're going to have to take it from my cold, dead hands!"

"Sounds like fun!" Typhon laughed, following the smoker's D-Wheel.

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 12:16 a.m._

_Location: Lower Manhattan Streets_

New York was always known to be a busy city, and over the years, that held true. Despite how the technological world had changed the world, that still didn't eliminate the night life of New York City, several people were burning the midnight oil by walking the headlight illuminated streets.

Lower Manhattan itself, known for holding the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street, was no exception, even in the midnight hour. And while loud engines were nothing new to New York City, the sound of two racing D-Wheels echoed through the buildings.

The smoker's D-Wheel zoomed past several cars on the road with Typhon's D-Wheel not too far behind. "What are ya trying to do, thief? Traffic ain't much of a challenge to get me off your tail!"

"I wasn't aiming for that," the smoker answered back as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "Now that we're on the main road, we can do this – Speed World 2, set, on!"

Typhon's eyes widened when he heard that, and immediately he watched as a holographic wall popped on the side of the road, the words 'Duel Lane' flashing on it. "What?"

Almost immediately, all of the cars and vehicles that were in the lane were moving away from it while smoker's D-Wheel quickly pulled into it. Typhon smirked as he followed the smoker into the duel lane, "I see what you're aiming for, I just hope ya know what you're getting into. I'm no slouch on the duel field! Activate Speed World 2!"

"_Duel mode initialized,"_ a computerized voice sounded from both riders' dashboards sounded out, making two blade-like boards shift from the sides of both motorcycles and right in front of the dashboard screens. "_Plotting course for cross-town racetrack. Acquiring approval from central grid…_

'_All green.'_

The Duel Lane began to shift towards the right, leading both of the riders towards a slightly less packed road. At the same town, the same computer voice that sounded from the D-Wheels, announced from the holographic wall, "_Riding duel has been accepted. All non-participating vehicles must vacate the dueling lane immediately. I repeat…"_

"You realize, thief," Typhon snickered loudly as he reached into his leather coat's inner pocket, producing a deck of brown and black backed cards that he slid into the gauntlet he had on his left arm. "That when you lose, that D-Wheel that you stole will come to a stop, and I'll beat you down until you're nothing more an unrecognizable stain on the pavement!"

"Tough talk from a Nemean Lion," The smoker replied.

"Wait… You can see what I am?" Typhon snarled, blinking a few times behind his helmet's visor.

"Of course, you're not the first Nemean Lion I've run across either," The smoker chuckled.

Nemean Lions, based on the very beast that they were named after that had fought against the legend – Hercules. Unlike in the legend however, the Nemean Lions were more considered to be humans with lion-characteristics – faces, manes, tails and claws. They were also known to be as strong as their namesake gave them…

… And had short tempers too.

"Now, you shouldn't underestimate me," the smoker snickered as he threw his hand to the side. "Cause the same holds true to you, the moment you lose, the moment I'll get away."

"Like that'll happen!" Typhon roared. "Let's get this duel over with so I can tear you apart!" (TLP: 8000 / SC: 0)

"Like I haven't heard that before," the smoker muttered. "Just shut up and duel!" (SLP: 8000 / SC: 0)

Both D-Wheels roared loudly as they made a powerful right turn on the specialized road, Typhon's motorcycle slowly gaining on the smoker's vehicle. "Let's get this over with! The sooner I beat ya, the sooner I can get a bonus from the boss from tearing ya a new one!"

"Feel free to start us off," the smoker replied pulling off the top five cards from his deck and slipped them into the arm guard.

"It'll be a pleasure!" Typhon chuckled as he pulled off a sixth card from his deck and looked at it with a lick of his teeth. "And I'll start off with this! I summon Blade Knight in attack mode!"

A large ring of light popped to the right of Typhon's D-Wheel, unleashing a tall and sleek silver armored knight, armed with an average sword and shield (1600/1000).

The smoker raised an eyebrow at the sight of the knight, '_Huh, didn't see that one coming.'_

"Next, I'll set three cards face down," Typhon announced as all three set cards appeared around his vehicle, immediately melding into the ground. "And that's my turn!"

The smoker remained silent as he drew from the top of his deck, clicking on one speed counter for both of the duelists. Blinking a few times at the card he drew, the smoker slapped it on his duel disk, making a face down, horizontal card appear in front of his D-Wheel.

A few moments later, two set cards appeared behind the escaping D-Wheel, disappearing quickly. And with that, the man waved his hand into the air a few times.

"Really? Got nothing to say?" Typhon muttered as he pulled off the top cards from his deck, giving both duelists two speed counters. "Fine with me, I think it's a lot easier to catch my prey when they don't fight back. I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight!"

A second ring popped to the left of Typhon's D-Wheel, allowing a black and silver armored knight, with a massive blade and shield attached to his arms (1800/1600). "Now then, let's see what you've got face down! Blade Knight! Attack his face down monster!"

The silver armored knight dashed forward and immediately stabbed its sword into the face down monster, making the card disappear while a decaying goblin appeared in its place (1100/1050), with the sword stabbing right through the zombified goblin. A second later the goblin shattered.

"Thanks," the smoker stated as a card popped out of his deck of cards and into his hand, allowing him to hold it up before he slipped it into hand holder. "Goblin Zombie allows me to add a zombie from my deck that has less than twelve hundred defense, so I'll take Zombie Master."

"Zombies, huh?" Typhon snickered as he threw his hand to the side. "Wow, like I haven't seen those before! Too bad that master can't help you now! Gearfried! Attack this thief directly!"

The dark armored knight flew through the air and immediately brought his sword down on the smoker, however a powerful aura had erupted from the smoker's D-Wheel, forcing it back. "That's why my Defense Draw was out on the field. So your damage was negated and I can draw an additional card."

"Grr… Good for you," Typhon snarled as he looked at the two last cards in his hand. '_Next turn though, it won't matter what you'll add to your hand.'_

"Turn end!"

The smoker drew once more, giving both duelists three Speed Counters each, and nodded as he looked at the cards, "This turn, I play a speed spell – Angel Baton!"

Several white feathers flowed over the smoker's D-Wheel, allowing the duelist to pull off two more cards from his deck, then for a second he looked them over before he slipped one of them into his dashboard's graveyard slot. "Now, I summon Zombie Master in attack mode!"

A dark mist erupted from the smoker's D-Wheel, forming into a ghoulish young man wearing a ripped and tattered overcoat that had several bones and clumps of dirt on his clothes and messy hair (1800/0).

"Next, by discarding Sleepy Beauty," the smoker continued as the Zombie Master cackled loudly, throwing his hands up into the air. "I can special summon a zombie from my graveyard, like my Goblin Zombie!"

The road erupted to the right of the stolen D-Wheel, allowing the hissing decayed goblin onto the road, this time holding up a rusted over sword (1100/1050).

"Ooh, and here I wonder what you'll do next," Typhon stated with his mouth dripping with sarcasm. "Yeesh, sure you can destroy my Blade Knight, but that won't do much for ya next turn!"

"Then let me try something different," the smoker stated as a powerful blue flame erupted around the Goblin Zombie's body, immediately eliminating the smaller zombie. "By releasing my zombie, I can bring out something a little bigger…"

A loud snort echoed through the air, forcing the flames to the side to show a large beastly, demonic ox that was dressed with a white toga around its waist with a large black, beaded necklace around its neck (2200/400). "Gyuki!"

"What in the world?" Typhon yelped at the sight of the powerful monster. "What the heck is that…"

Before Typhon could continue, the large Gyuki slammed into Gearfried, sending the knight flying through the air and shattering a few seconds later. Typhon's D-Wheel shook slightly as he gritted his teeth. "Grrrr!" (TLP: 7600 / SPC: 3)

"And to make things more interesting," the smoker continued throwing his hand to the side, making the Gyuki leap from the road and fly over Typhon's D-Wheel. "When Gyuki destroys a monster, you take six hundred more points of damage!"

The large ox demon snorted loudly, sending several flames flying over Typhon's D-Wheel, making the Nemean lion roar out loud. (TLP: 7000 / SPC: 3)

"Next, Zombie Master!" the smoker commanded.

The ragged monster cackled loudly before he flew towards the Blade Knight and slammed both of his feet into the knight's helmet, slamming the warrior into the ground. The warrior shattered when he slammed into the road, the remains floating into Typhon's body. "URK!" (TLP: 6800 / SPC: 3)

"And with that," the smoker announced as both of his monsters flew back to his field, Gyuki racing alongside the D-Wheel and the Zombie Master landed on the back of the man's D-Wheel. "My turn is over with."

"Alright, that was a lucky shot," Typhon coughed a little bit before he drew from the top of his deck, getting another Speed Counter for each duelist. "But let's see how you deal with this combo! First, I play my trap card – Call of the Haunted!"

One of the face down cards around Typhon's D-Wheel lifted up, allowing a large ghostly figure to erupt from it, forming into the familiar Blade Knight (1600/1000), slicing through the air a few times. "Next comes my other trap card – Knight's Brigade! Since I have a Knight on my field, I can pay a thousand life points to special summon a knight from my hand!

"So, come forth Command Knight!"

Another face down card around Typhon's motorcycle, revealing a trap card that had several knights charging forward. However, the trap card shattered, immediately allowing a beautiful, female knight to appear over the road. Her red armor gleamed in the holographic night as she drew her sword with a wink towards the smoker (1200/1900). (TLP: 5800 / SC: 4)

"And with my leading lady out," Typhon chuckled with a wag of his finger as a fiery aura erupted, covering both the Blade Knight (1600/1000 + 400/0) and the Command Knight herself (1200/1900 + 400/0). "All warriors gain four hundred attack points, but so long as they're under my control! And I've still got my normal summon, so, come on out Anchor Knight!"

A powerful flame erupted from the side of the Command Knight, making the female knight jump slightly as a larger, bulkier armored knight that had anchors on its back and on its gauntlets. The large, anchor armed knight slammed its fists together creating a powerful storm of sparks (1500/600 + 400/0). "And since I've got only one card left in my hand, my Blade Knight gains another four hundred attack points!"

Spinning the sword in his hand, the Blade Knight ran his blade across his shield, creating a mass of sparks (2000/1000 + 400/0). "Now then, let's get rid of your field! Blade Knight! Slay that… What's that ox monster's name again?"

"Gyuki," the smoker answered.

"Yeah! That thing!" Typhon laughed as the knight flew through the air and stabbed his sword right into the Gyuki's chest, shattering the large demonic ox. (SLP: 7800 / SC: 4)

"When Gyuki's destroyed after using his effect," The smoker answered fitting the card into his front pocket. "I have to remove him from play."

"Fine by me!" Typhon laughed again as he threw his hand forward, allowing the Anchor Knight to spin his right arm, unshackling the anchor around his arm. "Anchor Knight! You're up!"

The knight pulled his arm down and immediately slammed the anchor into the undead monster's head, slamming him into the ground, shattering it into millions of pixels. (SLP: 7700 / SC: 4)

"And for my final trick," Typhon snickered as the Command Knight leapt through the air. "I'll attack your life points, directly! Command Knight! Do the honors!"

The red armored knight cried out as she brought her sword down on the smoker's D-Wheel, creating a loud clanking sound as the D-Wheeler stagger on the road as he mustered everything he had to prevent himself from tipping over. (SLP: 6100 / SC: 4)

"And with that, I'll end my turn!" Typhon laughed as he pulled ahead of the smoker's D-Wheel. "How'd ya like that, punk?"

The smoker lifted his helmet covered head up and narrowed his eyes down at the D-Wheel in front of him, "Listen you overgrown pussy cat, the way I figure it, there's really not too much future for a guy with a tongue like that.

"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."

"Huh?" Typhon questioned as the smoker drew from the top of his deck, giving them both an additional speed counter. "What the heck does that mean?"

"It means that that you're an idiot," The smoker stated as he pushed a button on his duel disk, making a ghostly figure appear in front of him. "I play my trap card, Haunted Shrine! Since I don't have any monsters out, I can special summon a zombie from my graveyard! And choose my Goblin Zombie!"

The spirit morphed, immediately forming into the hissing dead goblin (1100/1050).

"Heh, what a stupid move," Typhon chuckled as he eyed the zombie. "If you had that trap set, you could've used it last turn to save yerself some damage!"

"Quit flapping your gums, and let me continue," the smoker answered as he pulled a card from his hand. "It's called thinking. Sure, I could've blocked your attack, but with the move I've got in mind, it would've hurt more than helped. I sacrifice my Goblin Zombie to summon this!"

A powerful fiery aura erupted around the Goblin Zombie's body, immediately making the zombie roar loudly as the flames over took its body. The flames grew larger and larger until they began to chase after the smoker's D-Wheel on its flame covered legs. The flames began to flicker off the large form's body, revealing a red skinned ogre in a loincloth and beads around its neck. And resting on the demon's shoulder was a large spiked club that bounced up and down on its muscular shoulders (2800/2100). "Red Ogre!"

"W-Wait a second!" Typhon snarled as he opened his eyes wide at the sight of the large monster. "T-That's a level seven monster but…"

"… Stop wasting your breath, you kitten," the smoker sighed as a holographic ghost appeared over his duel disk. "Remember when I discarded for my Zombie Master's effect? I discarded a monster called Sleepy Beauty, and she allows me to lower the level of all Zombies in my hand by one.

"And she's not the only effect I can activate, first comes Goblin Zombie, allowing me to add my Mezuki from my deck to the hand. But he's not staying there long, cause thanks to Red Ogre's effect, I can discard a number of cards from my hand in order to return that number of cards on the field back to their owner's hand."

The smoker pulled two cards from his hand and slipped them into his graveyard slot, "So, I'll discard Mezuki and Yuki-Onna from my hand to return your Blade Knight and face down card!"

With the two cards slipped into the graveyard slot, the Red Ogre's yellow eyes gleamed brightly as it leapt into the air, and slammed its club into the ground, sending two powerful flames racing across the ground and slamming into both the Blade Knight and the remaining set card that was around his D-Wheel. Both of the selected cards popped into smoke and reappeared in Typhon's hand. "URK!"

"Next, I'll continue with my combo," The smoker announced as he reached into his graveyard slot and produced two cards. "By removing Mezuki from the graveyard, I can special summon a Zombie from my graveyard, and I choose to special summon Yuki-Onna!"

A large icicle appeared in the air, spinning about before it shattered, immediately allowing a beautiful, pale woman to spin its place with her white kimono and blue whipping through the air (1000/0). And with a smile, the snow woman blew a kiss towards the smoker and smiled brightly at him. "And when she's special summoned from the graveyard, I can special summon another Zombie, and I choose to special summon a familiar face!"

Clapping her hands together, the young girl created a second icicle over the field, shattering to unleash the same Zombie Master (1800/0) that had appeared a few turns ago.

"And what's that punk going to do?" Typhon questioned raising an eyebrow at the reappearing zombie.

"… Show some damn respect," the smoker replied as he threw his hand to the side, making the Yuki-Onna pop into two blue rings of light. "Everything has a reason, and this is my reason! Yuki-Onna is a tuner monster! And I can tune her to my level four Zombie Master!"

The two rings of light flew around the ghoulish man, transforming it into four stars of light that erupted into a tower of light that formed over the smoker's D-Wheel. "_Howl from the depths of the grave – Inugami!"_

A loud howl erupted through the air, shattering the tower of light, and a few seconds later a ghostly dog with shimmering silver fur that billowed as the dog ran alongside the smoker's D-Wheel. Around the dog's neck was a loosely tied scarf with the Japanese character for 'loyalty' embroidered on it, while strapped to the beast's back was a beautifully crafted katana (2600/1250).

"S-Synchro!" Typhon yelped at the sight of the powerful creature that was running alongside the smoker's D-Wheel. "You lousy…"

"Why are you getting mad?" The smoker stated as a card popped out of his dashboard and into his hand. "Now Inugami! I remove Gobliln Zombie from my graveyard in order to activate your effect!"

With the selected card tucked away into his front pocket, the smoker threw his hand up into the air, making the ghostly dog howl loudly through the air, sending several shockwaves through the air. "Now, by removing one Zombie monster from my graveyard, I can destroy one face up monster on the field, and as much as I don't want to harm a lady, I don't have much of a choice!"

Drawing its katana with its teeth, the Inugami leapt through the air and quickly brought the Japanese blade down on the gasping knight, transforming her into a ghostly red spirit that was cut in two! And without the Command Knight's presence, the Anchor Knight's fiery aura disappeared (1900/600 – 400/0).

"Now then," the smoker called out, throwing his hand into the air. "Red Ogre! Attack his Anchor Knight!"

With a toothy grin, the Japanese Ogre leapt forward through the air, spun around and slammed its club right into the Anchor Knight's torso, sending the monster flying through the air. (TLP: 4500 / SC: 5)

"URK!" The Nemean Lion snarled as he pulled out a card from his hand. "Big deal! Ya may have gotten in another cheap shot, but I'll be dammed if ya do it again! I activate Anchor Knight's special ability! Now, by discarding the Blade Knight in my hand, I can special summon my Anchor Knight right back to the field in defense mode!"

Two chained anchors suddenly wrapped around the back of Typhon's D-Wheel, revealing that the Anchor Knight was still on the road, this time, it looked like the knight was street skiing (1500/600).

"Fine by me," the smoker stated snapping his fingers as the Inugami flew through the air and stabbed the katana into the Anchor Knight's chest plate, shattering the warrior. "Just gives me more target practice. You got anything else? Maybe you'll wanna try to use that Anchor Knight's effect again?"

"Nah, he's done his job well as a shield," Typhon snickered, his fang filled grin plastered all over his face. "Now I'm just waiting fer ya to end yer turn."

The smoker pulled another card from his deck gauntlet and slipped it into his dashboard, making the card appear in front of his D-Wheel before it disappeared into the road. "Knock yourself out."

"It'll be my pleasure," Typhon laughed as he pulled off his next card, earning him and the smoker one more Speed Counter, equaling up to six each. "And what a pleasure it'll be, cause first off, I'll be activating my own Speed Spell – Shift Down! So, by removing the six speed counters that I got on me, I can draw two more cards from my deck!"

That's when Typhon's D-Wheel began to slow down, making the smoker's D-Wheel shift to the right to make sure that he would dodge the slowed down Nemean Lion. Typhon at the same time pulled off two cards from his deck and smirked at the sight of them, "And I couldn't have asked for anything better! I'll be summoning my ace monster! Come on out, Masked Knight LV 3!"

Another ring of light appeared to the right of Typhon's D-Wheel, unleashing another knight over the road, but this one seemed to be a more cartoonish knight that was covered with silver and gold tinted armor and a spiked mask. On the back of the masked warrior's armor was a large sword that had wing like protrusions from the hilt of the blade.

The interesting thing about this warrior was that the warrior's shoulder armor resembled that of a horse, the head of the horse on his left arm and covering his right arm was the tail.

The warrior cried out loudly as he struck a dramatic pose (1500/800).

"A level monster?" The smoker muttered looking at the dashboard computer, raising an eyebrow at the monster. "That's certainly not good. One of my old friends can testify to that."

"And this one's no exception!" Typhon laughed as he threw his hand up into the air. "Masked Knight! I call upon your effect! Burn him for four hundred points of damage!"

The large horn on the Masked Knight's helmet began to glow brightly, and immediately fired the light from the top of the horn and into the smoker's D-Wheel, making the rider growl in annoyance. "What the hell?" (SLP: 5700 / SC: 6)

"Ha! How do ya like that!" Typhon snickered as he held up the two of the three cards in his hand up, and slid the two of them into his D-Wheel's dashboard. "Each turn I can use my knight's effect to inflict four hundred points of damage to ya. Of course, I can't attack with him, but with my two face down cards, I don't think I'll have to worry."

The smoker slowly reached for his dueling deck, however he stopped for a moment to think. And then he drew, pulling the top card from his deck while a seven speed counter appeared on his Speed World 2 and Typhon regained one. "Let's continue this, I summon Shutendoji in attack mode!"

A powerful flame erupted to the side of the smoker's D-Wheel, unleashing a second ogre, this one with long, wild blonde hair and dressed in a vest and a tan hakama. With a laugh, this ogre lifted up a large gourd that had the Japanese word 'Sake' painted on it, and took a long drink from the gourd. (1500/800)

"Then, I'll use his effect to return one of the Zombies that I removed from play to the top of my deck," the smoker announced as he took a card from his pocket and slipped it to the top of his deck. "And I think Mezuki will do the job for that. Now then, time for another effect, I use Inugami's effect! So by returning Gyuki and my removed Zombie Master, I can return all spells and traps on the field to our hands and…"

"Don't think so!" Typhon laughed as he pushed a button on his duel disk, making one of the face down cards flip up. "I activate my trap card – Divine Wrath! So, by discarding the last card in my hand, your mutt stays in the grave! And those annoying monsters don't get returned!"

A powerful bolt of electricity surged from the trap card and slammed into the Inugami, shattering the dog into millions of pixels. "So, sorry, but I think you can understand where I stand when it comes to cats and dogs…"

"That was a poor attempt at a joke," The smoker answered back as he threw his hand up into the air. "Red Ogre! Attack his Masked Knight!"

The large ogre simply stopped running on the road and lifted up its club as if it were a baseball bat and immediately took a mighty swing at the masked knight…

However, a ghostly warrior with long white hair and spiked red armor appeared in front of the Masked Knight and take the attack instead. "Heh, you think I'd let you do that? Not bloody likely! I had discarded my Necro Gardna for my Divine Wrath earlier, and so, I used it to block your attack. Pretty clever, eh?"

"Yeah, you're a credit to geniuses everywhere," the smoker stated pulling another card from his hand and slipped it into his dashboard. "Meanwhile, I don't feel like losing my Shutendoji, so I'll just set one card face down and end my turn."

The set card appeared on the road, and at the moment it disappeared, Typhon drew from the top of his deck, giving the smoker seven speed counters and himself two. "About bloody time, cause that means I can now have my knight evolve!"

A powerful bright light emerged over the Masked Knight LV 3, making its body become leaner and more serious with its armor growing sleeker and sharper. Even the long winged sword seemed to transform as well, showing the blade as it struck a more defiant pose (2300/1300).

"Impressive, no?" Typhon snickered looking at the only card in his hand. "But don't answer yet, cause he still has his effect! Once per turn, I can blast ya for a thousand points!"

The large horn on the evolved Masked Knight began to glow brighter, and instantly fired off a powerful shot of energy that crashed into the smoker's D-Wheel, making him stagger about slightly. "URK!" (SLP: 4700 / SC: 7)

"But the fun's not stopping there!" Typhon laughed even louder as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "I play my trap card – Trick Room Levels!"

The Nemean Lion's trap card revealed itself, forming into what appeared to be the Silent Swordsman LV 3 staggering in a funhouse with a Silent Magician LV 8 sauntering out at the same time. "Now, this trap card's a little tricky, so here's how it works. Ya see, if I have a LV monster on my field, and a level monster in my graveyard that lists the name of the level monster on my field, I can remove both of them from play to summon the level monster that's listed on the one on my field, ignoring any summoning conditions.

"Put simply, I can evolve my knight again, and you're boned!"

A powerful light surged for the knight, making the horn on its helmet surge and produce wing-like protrusions from the side while its body became leaner with smoother armor and longer arms. The warrior drew the winged sword from its back and cried out loudly (2900/1800). "Meet my king! Masked Knight LV7!"

"And let me guess," the smoker grumbled under his breath. "This one can burn me too, right?"

"Correct!" Typhon laughed loudly as the knight's horn began to glow brightly. "But he does fifteen hundred points of damage to ya, and in addition, he's not as weak as he used to be, meaning he can attack during the same turn he uses this effect! But for now, BURN BABY BURN!"

The light erupted from the highly evolved knight's helmet and crashed into the smoker's D-Wheel, almost making him lose control as Typhon passed him on the specialized road. (SLP: 3200 / SC: 7)

"And now for the attack!" Typhon laughed loudly as he threw his hand backwards, prompting his knight to cease running on the road. "Slay that Red Ogre! Take out the bigger threat!"

With its sword drawn, the Masked Knight eagerly waited for the Red Ogre to come closer, and when the Yokai saw this it was too late. The masked warrior immediately slashed horizontally and cleaved the Red Ogre in two. (SLP: 3100 / SC: 7)

"And to make things more interesting, I'll set one card face down, turn end!" Typhon laughed loudly as the set card appeared in front of him. '_And next turn, I'll finish this guy off! My face down card is Reckless Greed, so I can use it to replenish my hand. Depending on what I draw, I can easily cleave through his defenses and take this win for my own!_

'_And, just in case, I can use it as a good bluff!'_

"Before you end your turn," The smoker announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk, making one of the trap cards he had out appear. "I play my trap card, Simultaneous Loss. Now, both of us discard the top card from our decks to the graveyard."

"Fine with me," Typhon muttered as he plucked the top card off. '_Summon Speeder? Meh, a dead draw for me anyway.'_

"And now, it's my turn!" The smoker announced as he drew, gaining another speed counter, giving him eight and Typhon three. "Next, I'll play another Speed Spell – Devil's Baton! Since I have more than three Speed Counters, I can discard one card from my hand, and then I can draw two cards from the bottom of my deck."

"What the?" Typhon questioned as several black feathers began to float over the smoker's dueling motorcycle. "What kind of crap is that?"

The smoker didn't answer as he slipped a card from his hand into his dashboard's graveyard slot, and immediately he pulled two cards from the bottom of his deck. "Next, I'll activate the effect of the monster I discarded thanks to my trap – Mezuki! I don't think I need to tell you what this can do though."

"Yeah, you can remove it from play to special summon another Zombie," Typhon sighed a shake of his head. "So go ahead and bring back that ghost mutt of yours, I'm not afraid of it!"

Truth be told, Typhon was almost scared out of his wits.

"Can't," The smoker answered back as he pulled two cards from his dashboard graveyard. "Ya see, there were a few ruling changes over the years I've used these cards, like how my Inugami can only be special summoned from the Extra Deck, another example is that my Yuki-Onna has to remove the monster was special summoned with her effect.

"But in any case, I still have my methods for getting rid of your eyesore of a knight. I special summon the monster that I had discarded with my Devil's Baton – Crow Tengu!"

More black feathers erupted from the smoker's D-Wheel, allowing the mysterious duelist to speed along side Typhon's D-Wheel. A loud screech echoed through the air, and all the black feathers began to clump together, forming into a large demonic crow that was dressed in Japanese nobleman clothes (1400/1200), flying through the air over the smoker's D-Wheel.

"Man, you just keep bringing out weird monsters," Typhon admitted looking at the large bird that began to twist through the air, turning around into a large black blur. "What's this overgrown chicken supposed to do?"

"I wouldn't be so cocky, you overgrown house cat," The smoker replied as the Crow Tengu flew through the air and spun towards the Masked Knight. "Cause when my Crow Tengu is special summoned from the graveyard, I get to destroy one monster on the field, and I'll be choosing your rusted over knight!"

The crow flew through the air and pierced right through the Masked Knight LV 7's chest and made the knight stagger backwards on the road before it shattered into millions of feathers.

"I… I can still beat ya!" Typhon snarled loudly. "You don't still have enough monsters on the field to take me down!"

"True," the smoker stated until he tapped the side of his helmet a few times. "But, I should point out that I still have my normal summon left this turn."

Typhon's face scrunched up slightly.

"But luckily for you," The smoker sighed as he looked to his hand. "I don't have any monsters in my hand, only Speed Spells and trap cards. And none of them can really help at the moment."

"Whew," Typhon sighed with relief.

"But I can still use Speed World 2's draw effect," the smoker admitted. "So I can get a better chance to draw a card that can help out."

"Urk!" Typhon gagged loudly.

"Of course the chance of drawing something is about a one and three chance," the smoker continued with a smirk on his face. "So…"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF CRAP!" Typhon roared loudly. "ARE YOU JUST TRYING TO PISS ME OFF LIKE THIS?"

"Yep," The smoker replied.

"GARRGH!" Typhon roared loudly almost swerving off the field.

"Actually, I can guarantee what I can draw," the smoker answered as the Shutendoji guzzled down a lot of sake. "Thanks to Shutendoji's effect, I can return a removed from play Zombie to the top of my deck and I choose Gyuki. And now for Speed World 2!"

The smoker's D-Wheel immediately slowed down, falling back behind Typhon's D-Wheel and allowed the smoker to pull off another card from his dueling deck. "And I should point out that Gyuki is a level five, but thanks to the Sleepy Beauty I still have in my graveyard, he's still considered a level four monster in my hand!

"So, return my Gyuki!"

A loud snort echoed through the night air, allowing the large dark furred ox demon to slam into the road alongside the Smoker's D-Wheel (2200/400).

"I… I…" Typhon stuttered.

"… Get him," the smoker commanded simply as all three of his Yokai leapt through the air.

Typhon roared loudly as the Crow Tengu dive bombed into D-Wheel, right just as the Gyuki kicked into the other side of his D-Wheel. And to make things worse for the Nemean Lion, the Shutendoji unleashed a powerful flame that completely covered his D-Wheel, making him cry loudly before steam erupted from both sides of the modified motorcycle, making him spin out greatly before his D-Wheel came to a stop. (TLP: 0)

"GARGH!" Typhon snarled loudly as the smoker's D-Wheel sped past him until he turned sharply and stopped several feet away from the defeated Nemean Lion. "You… You lousy… Who… WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"

The smoker stamped his foot into the road, and slowly began to pull his helmet off. With a smirk, the smoker crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't like to give my name to losers who waste their life. Consider yourself lucky that I no longer have the authority to put you behind bars, you overgrown house cat, otherwise, I'd send you to the cooler for stealing D-Wheels…

"And if I was still part of the law, you'd be under arrest for stealing an officer's motorcycle."

Typhon's eyes widened as he eyed the man's face, particularly on the man's right cheek there was a golden scar that was painted on his skin. Typhon had seen that mark quite a few times, like when he saw Grogg earlier this evening.

But this was different from his boss's.

"You… Y-You're a S-S-Shadowchaser?" Typhon stuttered almost falling off of his D-Wheel.

"You need to clean your ears out, jackass," the smoker answered as he fitted the helmet back on his head. "I just said that I wasn't a part of the law anymore, I'm no Shadowchaser. But so help me if you or your crew ever steals from me, I won't just stop at taking back what you took."

And with that, the smoker sped off, leaving a large cloud of dust and smoke in its wake. Typhon barred his teeth as he slammed his fists into the D-Wheel. "Damn it! You know what you are?

"Just a dirty son-of-a-b…!"

_**DARK CITY CHRONICLES**_

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 1:43 a.m._

_Location: 59th Street, Central Park South _

After driving away from the dueling site, the smoker eventually found himself outside the famous public park, simply leaning up against his D-Wheel. Taking in the sights in front of him, the streets and the cars passing by in front of him, the smoker sighed loudly as he reached into his pocket, "… Home, sweet home. Its been, what, six years since I saw the skyscrapers here?"

Pulling out a pack of Lucky Seven Cigarettes, the smoker grimaced when he realized one little fact, "Damn it, I'm down to my last one. I'm going to have to see if my usual stand's still around."

With a flick of his finger, the smoker popped the cigarette out of the pack and into his mouth. A second later, the cigarette was lit, allowing the tobacco to work its magic into the smoker's system. "Ah… Truly, this is a night to enjoy. A warm summer night, a good view, my frustration's been vented, and I can end this evening with a cigarette…

"I don't know what secrets this city holds now-a-days, but if it gets me closer to finding him, I'll pull any shadows from these streets and expose them to the light."

_TBC_

**TTTTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Masked Knight LV3 / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1000 / Warrior/Effect:** During your Standby Phase, you can send this face-up card to the graveyard to special summon 1 'Masked Knight LV5' from your hand or deck. Once per turn, you can inflict 400 damage to your opponent. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn.

**Masked Knight LV5 / Earth / LV. 5 / ATK: 2300 / DEF: 1300 / Warrior/Effect:** During your Standby Phase, you can send this face-up card to the graveyard to special summon 1 'Masked Knight LV7' from your hand or deck. Once per turn, you can inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn.

**Masked Knight LV7 / Earth / LV. 7 / ATK: 2900 / DEF: 1800 / Warrior/Effect:** This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Masked Knight LV5'. Once per turn, you can inflict 1500 damage to your opponent.

_The previous three cards were used by Jill deLauncebeaux in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime._

**Anchor Knight / Fire / LV. 4 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 600 / Warrior/Effect:** When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can discard 1 card to Special Summon this card in face-up Defense Position. Up to 3 times per turn, you can discard 1 card to inflict 600 damage to your opponent.

_This card was used by the Knight of Rage in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. _

**Sleepy Beauty / Dark / LV. 1 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Zombie/Effect:** While this card is in the graveyard, lower the level of all Zombie-Type monsters in your hand by 1.

_This card was used by Michel in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime._

**Crow Tengu / Wind / LV. 4 / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1200 / Zombie/Effect:** When this card is special summoned from your graveyard, destroy one of your opponent's monsters.

**Description:** A black feathered crow demon in black Japanese robes

**Haunted Shrine / Normal Trap / Effect:** Activate only when you control no monsters on your side of the field. Special summon 1 Zombie-Type monster from your Graveyard.

**Image:** Several spirits erupting from a Japanese shrine

_The preceding two cards were used by Misawa Daichi in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga._

**Speed Spell – Summon Speeder / Normal Spell / Effect:** Activate only while you control a "Speed World" with 4 or more Speed Counters on it. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your hand.

**Image:** Dunamas Dark Witch appearing in a burst of energy.

**Speed Spell – Angel Baton / Normal Spell / Effect:** Activate only while you control "Speed World" with 2 or more Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards. Send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard.

**Image:** A beautiful angel caressing a jewel in her hands.

_The preceding cards were used by various duelists in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime._

**Gyūki / Earth / LV. 5 / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 400 / Zombie/Effect:** While this card is in your graveyard, you may sacrifice one face up Zombie-Type monster on your side of the field to special summon this card from the graveyard. When this card is summoned this way, this card gains the following effect:

-) When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, inflict 600 points of damage to your opponent's life points. When this card is destroyed, remove this card from play.

**Description:** A large beastly ox demon dressed with black beads and white toga with black fur covering its body.

**Yuki-Onna / Water / LV. 2 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 0 / Zombie/Tuner:** When this card is special summoned from your graveyard, you may special summon one level four or lower Zombie monster from your graveyard (Other than Yuki-Onna). A monster special summoned with this effect cannot be tributed or declare an attack. If the special summoned monster is removed from the field, remove it from play. During the end phase of the turn a monster special summoned with this card's effect, remove it from play.

**Description:** A beautiful blue haired woman dressed in a white kimono with blue trim on it.

**Inugami / Earth / LV. 6 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 1250 / Zombie/Synchro/Effect:** [1 Tuner Monster + 1 or more Non-Tuner Zombie monster(s)] This card can only be special summoned from the Extra Deck. Once per turn, you may activate one of the following effects:

Remove one Zombie type monster from your graveyard. You may destroy one face up monster card on the field.

Return two Zombie-type monsters from your removed from play pile to your deck. Return all spells and trap cards to their owner's hand.

**Description:** A large ghostly silver furred dog with a large scarf around it's neck with the kanji for loyalty on it, while on the beast's back is a large sheathed katana

_The preceding three cards were used in Shadowchasers: Risen Nemesis by Hyde I. Vayne, note, their effects have been changed a little bit._

**Knight's Brigade / Trap / Effect:** This card can only be activated when you have a face up 'Knight' monster on your side of the field. Pay 1000 life points. You may special summon one Level 4 or lower 'Knight' monster from your hand. During the turn this card is activated, you cannot tribute summon.

**Image:** Several knights charging towards a castle

**Trick Room Levels / Trap / Effect:** This card can only be activated if you have only one face up monster on the field. Select 1 face-up "LV" monster on your side of the field to activate this card. Select one monster in your graveyard that has the same name as the selected monster on the field but lower 'LV', remove both the selected monsters from play to special summon one monster listed on one of the removed from play monsters' card descriptions from your hand or deck (ignoring the summoning conditions).

**Image:** the Silent Swordsman LV 3 staggering in a funhouse with a Silent Magician LV 8 sauntering out at the same time

**TTTTTTTTT**

_**The board is set…**_

_**The pieces are slowly but surely appearing…**_

_**And when they all appear…**_

_**Well…**_

_**We'll soon find out.**_

_**Next time on Dark City Chronicles, the mysterious smoker appears once more on the streets of New York City, wrapped up in another incident that draws him deeper into the shadows of this huge city. **_

_**However, he won't be alone in his pursuit of the truth…**_

_**Draw 1**_

_**Pursuit Chaser**_

_**Smoker: … **_Do I really need to be referred to like this? I think everyone knows who I am…

_**Lux-Nero:**_ Just go with it for now! Besides, you weren't properly introduced in this part, and its only chapter zero.

_**Smoker:**_ You realize that no one's buying that crap, right?


	2. Draw 1: Pursuit Chaser

_**There are a lot of people in this city of New York, each of them minding their own businesses, slowly wasting away what precious life they were given. Most of them have their eyes closed to the truth that walks around them, and most of them don't realize this truth.**_

_**It wasn't long since I stepped back into this city, and eventually, my fatigue began to overtake me. Even though I've fought against countless creatures from the tales of fantasy, I'm still only human, I need sleep. But even though I'm back in my hometown, I'm restless. **_

_**Maybe it was due to the excitement I had to deal with a few hours ago, or maybe it's the shadows that plague me in my dreams… In any case, as I lean against my nearby window, I take in all the view that's stretched out in front of me. I should be looking right at the old NYC I know so well, but, something feels different. **_

_**I can only stare idly through the glass at what's beyond, and my thoughts return to the memories of my old friends whom I skipped out on a while ago. **_

_**Damn it… **_

_**I'm not going to be able to get any sleep, besides, it's already day time. **_

_**I hope I can get a decent cup of jo around this morning without hassle. **_

**TTTTTT**

_**Draw 1**_

_**Pursuit Chaser**_

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 8:27 a.m._

_Location: Manhattan General Hospital _

It was a calm, pristine morning, as one to be expected in a hospital on a calm early morning. The clean and brightly light hallways were filled with young doctors and nurses doing their morning rounds and patients waiting in the lobby for not so serious injuries or illnesses, all of them reading old issues of various magazines.

The lobby's bright and colorful scenery seemed to put everyone in a calm demeanor, there was even a small kids' corner that had a few youngsters playing with the toys.

But there was something that stuck out in the white and serene scenery, almost seemingly drawing all of the light that was in the large area. It was a person completely dressed in black leaning up against one of the walls with a book held up to their face, blocking their face completely.

Given a closer look towards the person, you could see that they were wearing a long black overcoat (how they weren't sweating in that was a mystery to everyone who was looking at the weird person) with a white dress shirt, a black tie and matching black pants over their slim figure. Atop of their head was a fancy black fedora hat that covered the top of their longish black hair (that seemed to have a purple tint to it) that barely reached the person's shoulders.

"Ah Plato, truly you are food for the brain," The person mused, using their thumb to turn the page they were on. "It's too bad that I know that quite a few college students loathe your logic."

"Excuse me…" A nervous voice called out to the book reader.

The book reader lowered the thick book down to reveal the large thick glasses on the person's face, and if you were of a certain kind of person, you would see the small golden mark on the right side of their sharp, paled face. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Standing in front of the reader was a young nurse, dressed in some scrubs with a clip board in her hands. She was a little nervous in front of the daunting person in black in front of her, "Um, are you M-Mr. Hardin?"

The reader smiled slightly before tucking the book into their overcoat's pocket, "I prefer just Hardin, but yes. I assume you've got some information concerning my friend?"

"Yes," The nurse stuttered, fidgeting slightly at Hardin. "Uh, well, there's not a lot of serious stuff to deal with, a few bruises and some head trauma, but all and all, Mr. Hitsuji should be alright. But the doctors wanna keep him here until he wakes up."

"That doesn't seem too much of a request," Hardin answered back with a shrug. "But I'm glad to hear he's alright."

"If you don't mind me asking," The nurse continued, her gaze turning away from Hardin's. "The doctors were curious about how he could get those bruises; did he get into a fight or something?"

Hardin froze up slightly before chuckling sheepishly, "Well you could say that…"

Truth be told, it was true that Mr. Hitsuji got into a fight. But to call it a fight wouldn't really be all that accurate. Hardin would consider it more along the lines of a beating, heck, amongst Hardin's associates in New York Mr. Hitsuji wasn't the strongest character around.

Throw in the fact that he had the misfortune of having to face against the biggest threat of last night, one-on-one to boot. It was a miracle that Mr. Hitsuji even got off with just a concussion and some bruises from the big brute – Grogg.

'_That itself warrants some curiosity,'_ Hardin through, turning away from the fidgeting nurse. '_If anything, Mr. Hitsuji should've been killed by that lummox. Not many criminals would let a Shadowchaser off with only a few bruises…'_

"Um, sir?" the nurse announced to garner Hardin's attention.

"Uh, sorry about that," Hardin coughed a few times. "You were saying?"

"Well, you don't have to stay here," The nurse stated with a smile on her face. "Mr. Hitsuji will be fine in our care, and the gentleman who was here earlier gave us instructions to call him a cab when he gets back to his senses. So, yeah, Mr. Hardin, you can leave if you like."

"Well, I do have some other jobs to do today," Hardin mused, pushing up the glasses a few times. "I might just take up that offer. But before I leave, I have one thing to say."

"Y-Yes?" the nurse stammered as Hardin leaned towards her.

"… Mister is a little rude to call me," Hardin pointed out. "Especially when you're talking to a lady."

"W-What?" the nurse yelped as Hardin began to walk away.

A few minutes later, Hardin was outside of the hospital, reaching into one of the inside pockets of her overcoat and pulled out a small purple cell phone. As she began to turn on her cell, Hardin couldn't help but sigh to herself. It wasn't the first time her choice of clothing, hair-style, and even her cute face had her mistaken for a guy.

Its not like she actually got annoyed with the misconception, but still, it was a slight inconvenience.

Back to what was really important, Hardin lifted up the phone to her right ear to listen to the ringtone and then finally…

"Irving here! What's the down low?"

"Hmm, nice to hear your voice Irving," Hardin replied back into the phone, pushing up her glasses as she walked on the sidewalk towards the parking lot. "Hardin reporting in, you seem unusually chipper after this morning. I figured you'd be asleep by now."

"I was about to turn in for the day, but I had to catch the morning news. Besides, no rest for the weary. Speaking of, how are you and the little guy holding out? You need to come back to base and rest?"

"Not necessary Irving," Hardin responded as she reached the parking lot, her glasses covered eyes aimed at the sleek purple D-Wheel parked a few feet away. "I've got plenty of energy to burn, and I don't even fell fatigue any more."

"… Hardin, I don't want you to push yourself. You know full well that I am aware of your condition but that doesn't mean that…"

"Irving, Mr. Hitsuji is going to be alright," Hardin interrupted, stopping her trek in front of the D-Wheel. "He only has a few bruises and a bump on his head. The nurse told me that he's just resting and that he'll be out in a little while. They'll call him a cab after he gathers himself and he'll be back at the base later.

"As for me, I'm still awaiting what we should do about last night. The raid was a bust."

A loud sigh echoed through the other end of the line, making Hardin blink a few times behind her glasses. "… I understand, we'll speak of private matters later. For now though, what we're going to do is find leads. I didn't know that the head honcho would appear last night, he was the ace that appeared on the table. Because of that, he and his three goons managed to escape.

"And while we did manage to acquire a majority of the stolen D-Wheels, there's still the matter of the other player that appeared last night. I couldn't get a good look at his face cause I was watching from the girders, but he took one of the D-Wheels and he was able to go toe-to-toe with that head honcho. If the big guy who K.O. Kuroi is an Ace, then this guy's the Joker."

"So, you want me to try to find this guy?" Hardin questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Hahahaha, that'd be a tall order, even for me! While I would like to find him, I'm a little more interested in tracking the D-Wheels that were stolen. They're still the best lead we've got on the Backdraft Corps' movements, so I'd like you to meet up with our police contact to see if there are other reports of stolen D-Wheels."

"What good will doing that do?" Hardin questioned.

"Well, we could try to kill two birds with one stone. You see, like I said, that Joker stole a D-Wheel, but he was really specific with that one. So, there are a few things I'd like you to check, see what reported D-Wheels are still listed as unaccounted for. Maybe if we're lucky, we can find out if the Joker made a stolen item's report, we can find his name.

"And frankly, if we find this guy, we could find out how he found the warehouse where the Backdraft Corps were storing their stolen goods."

"So you wanna use this guy to find out more about the Backdraft Corps movements?" Hardin questioned, sitting down on the D-Wheel's seat. "Its sounds a little complicated sir, couldn't we just use Taiga's sources again?"

"I don't like using Taiga's resources, I know Taiga trusts them, but I can't stand shifty people like that."

"And this Joker isn't shifty?" Hardin countered.

"I've seen this guy in action. Call it a hunch, but I know I've seen his moves when he fought against the big guy."

Hardin sighed loudly, "I'll see what I can do, Irving. But I'm not making any promises, heck, this guy could've just been a thief trying to get a D-Wheel."

"Heh, ya gotta have a little faith in people, Hardin."

"You just love contradicting yourself, don't ya?" Hardin sighed again. "In any case, I haven't seen Lynne for a while, so I'll be able to at least say hello to her."

"Give me a report when you get back, I'll probably get enough sleep by then."

"Yeah, sounds like you need the sleep," Hardin muttered under her breath. "I'll talk to you later, sir."

**TTTTTTTT**

_Time: 8:43 a.m._

Grogg was not usually a reasonable man, he wasn't a man who thought first and punched later, and he wasn't the kind of guy to admit his mistakes. But even he had enough common sense not to kill that little pipsqueak, he had known about what happens when you killed a Shadowchaser.

But damn, not only was his warehouse compromised, he got a hit a few times by some old smoker, but he also lost his newest and best treasure – The Fireblade D-Wheel!

And even though Typhon had been sent to retrieve the D-Wheel from the smoking thief, he had failed!

At the very least the mountain of a man Grogg had finally reached his home after sending his three subordinates away with their heads hung in shame.

So with his large shadowed frame lining the door, the huge man placed his hand on the nearby switch and flicked on the lights to his studio apartment. "Ugh… What a night…"

Taking a deep breath, Grogg stepped into his apartment, slamming the door behind him as he took in all the sights of his apartment. Despite how Grogg looked and acted, he himself had some interesting tastes, lining the walls of the apartment were twelve paintings that depicted the animals of the Japanese Zodiac, with a blue dragon set directly placed in front of the large black couch that was in the middle of the apartment (which incidentally served as Grogg's bed).

Tossing his silver vest to the side, Grogg made his way to the couch and crashed on it. With his head thrown back, Grogg groaned loudly. "Damn it… With all the crap I have to deal with, what have I done to deserve this!"

"Are you trying to be ironic or something?"

Grogg nearly jumped from the couch when he heard that voice, and immediately turned his attention forward to see that the dragon painting had lifted up to reveal a large plasma screen television that had a shadowed face sighing at the sight of Grogg.

And almost immediately, Grogg's look of surprise transformed into a look of pure disgust, "What do you want? I was just about to crash."

"Because we have things we must discuss," The shadowed face retorted, visibly shaking his head slightly. "This little tiff we're having is pointless, and as long as we're having this bad blood between us, we'll have incidents like last night and…"

"Does it look like I gives a rat's ass about that?" Grogg spat back his eyes narrowed down at the shadowed face. "I'm not interested in listening to whatever crap you spout out, so why don't you take your sorry ass and get off my television!"

"Grogg! This is highly unprofessional!" the shadowed face snarled back. "If we keep up this feud, then all of the hard work we put into the Backdraft Corps will be all for naught! Do you want that to happen? Do you want years of work to be wasted?"

"… After what you did," Grogg sighed loudly with his head lowered down. "Do you think I care about anything concerning you? Get off my case, and let me sleep. If you wanna discuss things with me, we can always have a rumble in the streets to clear things up!"

And with a snap of his fingers, Grogg made the television turn off and allowed the dragon painting to slowly slide down in front of it. "… Damn it… He never gives up."

Reaching into his pocket, Grogg produced a small cell phone and began to dial it, "And I'm not even done yet. I still gotta deal with that punk who sucker punched me and stole my treasured D-Wheel."

Holding up the cell phone to his ear, Grogg immediately spoke into it as soon as the call connected, "Yeah, it's me. Look, send a message out to all members of the BackDraft Corps on my side. I want the word to go out that I want this guy found.

"Whoever finds him and brings him back to me in a single piece, alive, they'll be rewarded handsomely. Now, I don't know the guy's name, but I'd never forget a mug of someone who steals from me! You got a pad of paper and pen on ya?

"Good, here's what he looks like…"

**TTTT**

_Time: 9:15 a.m._

_Location: Manhattan Police Station _

New York City was known for many things, being the place where if you could make it here, you could make it anywhere. But a notable factor about this city was its level of crime, even people who weren't from New York City knew that crime thrived in the city – Mostly due to all the cop dramas that anyone could plainly name off the top of their heads.

But reality and fiction are not the same, that fact is a given.

Still, while crime in fiction was a bit more glamorous, that didn't mean that crime in New York City was non-existent and in fact, the city was plagued by illegal deeds. Over the years however, the police stations that were set up in the boroughs were upgraded to include more technology to provide a faster response to any crimes that get reported by civilians or officers.

And was more than one station in each of the boroughs, but it was the one that was located closest to Central Park that we find Hardin walking into, her overcoat billowing over her slim frame with each step she took. "Such a familiar scene."

Entering the station, Hardin sighed to herself at the sight of the busy lobby of the police station, several officers walking around the scene either with files, culprits or regular citizens. It was a regular day at the office.

Something that Hardin wished she could experience once more.

Shaking that thought from her head, Hardin slowly walked towards the counter, where there was a young officer nonchalantly reading some files he had in his hands. However, when he looked up from the files, the man smiled slightly, "Ah, it's you. Morning, Hardin."

"Morning," Hardin replied back with her arms crossed. "I'm glad to see that everything's in order, especially considering what happened earlier this morning."

"Yeah," The officer sighed slightly with a shake of his head. "We owe ya for tracking down those D-Wheels, we kept getting our ears chewed off every person who got their ride hijacked."

"Glad we could save your ears," Hardin stated in a rather dull tone. "But in any case, can you call up Detective Wystern? I'd like to discuss a few things with her about last night and…"

"Wish I could, Hardin," The officer replied. "But you just missed her."

Hardin pushed up her glasses a few times as a bead of sweat began to roll down the side of her head, "Don't tell me, Lynne's skipping out on work again?"

"Not this time," The officer muttered under his breath. "And actually, she had a feeling that you'd show up this morning, so she left me a note to give to you."

The officer quickly lifted up what appeared to be a small folded up note of paper, and with a slight toss, flicked it at Hardin. Without any effort, the black wearing woman caught the note with one hand and began to fold it open. And with a slight tilt of her head, Hardin read the note to herself.

And almost immediately she pocketed the note, "Thanks… I could use some coffee anyway."

**TTTTTTTT**

_Time: 9:25 a.m._

If there was one thing about New York that would never change, it was the people's attitudes on the street. The morning streets were always filled with people going about their business, heading to work, school, or to run some errands, always clogging up the sidewalks.

And on a day like this, it was no different.

Everyone was going on about their own business, paying no heed to each other, save to make sure that they wouldn't bump into another person (at least not on purpose).

"Good to see the people haven't changed."

Watching the crowds of people walk through the streets from a nearby coffee shop, was none other than the man from last night – The Smoker – sipping on a medium sized cup of coffee. He was sitting near the window of this coffee shop, just trying to keep himself awake after the events of last night.

The combination of soothing jazz music from the coffee shop and the people chattering inside the building were enough to keep him awake (at least as much as possible for him).

There was a part of him that wanted to light up a cigarette to go with his black coffee, but he was once a man of the law, and knew that smoking in places like this coffee shop were frowned upon in society. So, he'd have to settle for his caffeine instead of nicotine.

Either way, he was fine with just a cup of coffee at the moment, that and the jazz music that filled the coffee shop's air.

'_It's barely been a week since I stepped back into this city,'_ The smoker thought to himself as he kept looking through the glass, swirling the cooling off cup of coffee he had in his hands. '_And I've already been the victim of grand theft auto… I don't even know if most of my contacts are still even around this city.'_

Indeed, his mission was a tough one, but the smoker had already found his trail, but he had to keep it fresh. There was one thing he could do, but after what he had done in the last place he holed up in, he doubted that he'd be greeted warmly by his old boss.

Still, it was something to consider…

Unbeknownst to the smoker, at that very moment that he thought that, the coffee shop's door opened, allowing Hardin to enter into the same shop.

After she adjusted her glasses a few times, Hardin scanned the coffee shop (even looking over at the smoker for a few seconds), in an attempt to find the detective she was looking for earlier at the station. Her glasses lit up for a few seconds when she finally discovered who she was looking for, "Finally."

Walking past several customers, Hardin finally reached one of the tables in the back where a woman was gingerly sipping on coffee by herself. "So, this is you not skipping out on work, Lynne?"

The woman in question was young (roughly maybe a year or two older than Hardin herself) with light brown hair that reached the shoulders of her gray overcoat. She was slim, and was wearing a white button up shirt, a black tie and black pants. If it wasn't for the fact that she seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep, she'd be considered a beauty. "Give me a break Hardin, I only got an hour of sleep thanks to your guys' raid last night. I've been up since then working to get those D-Wheels back to their proper owners.

"And let me tell ya, I've made some interesting discoveries concerning those owners… A number of them had their licenses revoked, other had a warrant for their arrest… Ugh…"

"Well, you took this job on your own accord," Hardin pointed out, taking the seat across from Lynne. "You're more than welcomed to try your hand at our job…"

"No thanks," Lynne sighed back. "I got something to do as a detective, besides, I'd rather chase the regular criminals than deal with some crook that can conger up fire with his bare hands."

For those of you wondering, yes, Detective Lynne here is an Aware – Someone who can see Shadowkind for what they truly are. Normally, someone who's an Aware usually got drafted into the Shadowchasers, but there were a few interesting cases where that didn't happen.

Detective Lynne Wystern was one of those cases. It was only two years ago that she awakened to her Awareness, which was almost the same time she finally made detective in her prescient. After all the hard work she put in, she wasn't going to give that up.

Besides, having an aware detective on the force did come with some perks.

"So, since you're here," Lynne sighed, holding up her cup of coffee. "I can only assume that you wanna discuss something about last night's raid?"

"Yes actually," Hardin replied. "I was hoping that maybe you could tell me about the D-Wheel theft reports. I assume that a few of the D-Wheels are still unaccounted for."

"Yeah, there were a few D-Wheels that were still missing," Lynne answered before taking a sip of her coffee. "There weren't a lot, like four or five. Why?"

"… I might as well tell you Lynne," Hardin sighed with her arms crossed over her chest. "Last night the bust had two additional surprises. One, the apparent head honcho appeared, he wanted to check his so called 'treasures' and it threw a monkey wrench into our plans."

"Anyone hurt?" Lynne questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing too serious," Hardin answered, not interested in making Lynne worry about the concussion that Mr. Hitsuji had received a few good hours ago. "But it still made things a little difficult, we couldn't make any arrests last night, the boss and his three lackeys managed to escape, more than likely, they got away with those D-Wheels."

"I see," Lynne replied, nodding a few times. "But you mentioned that there were two nasty surprises. What was the second?"

"Well…" Hardin started…

However, before Hardin could continue, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the air, followed by a chorus of screams. Of course this drew both Hardin's and Lynne's attention towards the large window that was pointed towards the street, and lo and behold, there was a huge gaping hole in the window with several cracks webbing from it. Most of the customers had scattered away from the entity that had caused it, save for one man who was seated near the glass earlier.

"Wow! Jaki found ya!"

Standing in the gaping hole was an extremely tall and muscular man with extremely pale skin, just looming over the smoker as if he were a little kid, which wasn't hard since the pale man was over seven feet tall. He had a goofy smirk on his broad face that was topped with bluish-gray hair that had several split ends on it and he was dressed in a simple denim vest and black jeans that hugged his muscular frame. He also seemed to have a large duffle bag slung around his waist.

Of course, that's what the guy looked like to the eyes of the normal.

Through Hardin's and Lynne's eyes, they could see what this giant man was really. His pale skin was actually covered with a short layer of white fur, save for his face which made the man's face look like that of an ape with two large fangs poking out from the lower part of his mouth. However, sprouting from his head were a pair of intimidating, black elk-like horns that curved over his head.

Hardin's eyes widened behind her glasses when she saw the man, "A… A wendigo…"

"Wendigo?" Lynne questioned.

Wendigo, a beast with a very dangerous following. According to Algonquian myths, the Wendigo were known as a spirit that could possess a human once the person had committed cannibalism. Once a person was possessed by a wendigo, they would develop a hunger for human flesh, growing stronger with each meal.

However, that was just according to legend.

In actuality, Wendigo were powerful creatures that had large, yeti-like bodies and had some very unique abilities. Wendigo came in two different classes, the higher and lower class. The higher class was composed of smaller, more human-like Wendigo with higher intelligence and actually had the ability to possess people (although, whether they still dined on human flesh was still debated amongst Shadowchasers).

Then, there was the lower class, which was composed of Wendigo like the one that had just smashed into the coffee shop, known for their more physical methods and bigger builds. They might not have been the smartest Shadowkind around, but they certainly had their own manner of compensation with their strength.

"Jaki's really glad to find ya!" the Wendigo laughed as he cracked his knuckles at the smoker. "Boss'll be sure to give Jaki big bonus!"

The smoker growled slightly as the Wendigo (who's name he guessed was Jaki) slowly began to close in on him. With glass all around him, the smoker did the one thing that came to his mind.

The smoker quickly lifted up the cup of coffee he had in his hands and splashed its contents into Jaki's eyes, making the large Wendigo screech out in pain and stagger back a few feet. "Jaki can't see! IT BURNS!"

Taking this opportunity, the smoker leapt out of the broken window and began to run off through the streets. However, before he could get too far, the Wendigo managed to wipe off most of the coffee that had gotten into his eyes and began make chase, "Wait! Jaki needs to bring you to the boss!"

"What the heck was that about?" Lynne questioned running over to some of the people who were closer to the shattered window.

"Don't know," Hardin answered as she jumped through the broken window. "But now I've got to do my job!"

"Hey!" Lynne shouted out.

**TTTTTTT**

"WAIT FOR JAKI!"

'_Damn it! Who knew Wendigo were persistent?'_

The smoker had been running from the large Shadowkind, aiming to escape to his D-Wheel (which unfortunately had been parked quite a ways away from the coffee shop) and then out ride this huge beast that was closing in on him. And the fact that there were several people just walking casually in the streets, that didn't help the smoker's chances of getting away.

However, this Wendigo wasn't going to disappoint his boss today!

With a mighty leap Jaki flew over several people and landed right in front of the smoker, almost crushing a few innocent bystanders in the process. It certainly caught the attention of everyone who was walking. "Yay! Jaki wins!"

Just as the large Wendigo was about to grab the smoker, the man immediately ducked down and slipped into the nearby alleyway, making Jaki miss and blink a few times in confusion. "Huh?"

The smoker dashed down the alleyway, reaching into his jacket's pocket, quickly pulling out two gloves that he put on as he ran through the alleyway, "This seems a good enough spot as any…"

The moment he had the gloves slipped on, the smoker realized that Jaki was making his way into the alleyway, gaining up on the smoker. "Jaki's got ya now!"

The large Wendigo threw his right hand towards the smoker, who smirked as he pulled his left hand back, and quickly threw a punch towards Jaki's opened palm. At first, Jaki was about to close his hand on the smoker's fist, only to realize that once the fist made contact with his hand, it was flung back, making Jaki stumble slightly. "W-What the?"

Taking this opportunity, the smoker leapt towards Jaki and slammed his right fist into Jaki's face, making the Wendigo fall backwards with a loud crash that sent several trash cans and litter flying through the air when he landed on the ground. "OWWIE!"

The smoker landed back on the ground, holding his glove covered fist up. "If you get up, I won't hesitate to use these Iron Arms on ya again. And incase you didn't know, Steel Arms can give a human like me enough strength to fight a Shadowkind like you.

"Your choice pal."

Jaki quickly got back up to his feet and dabbed away the small amount of blood that seeped from his mouth. "Jaki no like pain. But Jaki need to bring you to boss! Jaki need to get cash quick!"

The smoker rolled his eyes, not bothering to lower his guard for a second at this Wendigo. "And why does your 'boss' want to see me?"

"You made Jaki's boss lose his treasure," Jaki explained, cracking his knuckles. "Jaki's boss want to bring to him in one piece, otherwise Jaki no get reward. So, you come with Jaki?"

With a smirk, the smoker reached into his jacket's inner pocket, "I don't think so, but I'll make you a deal Jaki."

"Huh?" Jaki questioned.

"Your boss wants me to meet with him? Fine," The smoker stated. "So how about this, you know how to duel?"

"Uh, yeah! Jaki know how to duel!" Jaki laughed with his hands on his hips, and a proud smirk on his face. "Jaki know how to duel real good!"

"Well," The smoker continued, pulling out a duel disk from his jacket. "We'll do this then. We'll duel, and if you win, I'll come with you to your boss willingly, without so much as a fight."

"Wow! Really?" Jaki gasped with joy.

"But, the flipside of that deal," the smoker stated as he slipped the duel disk on his arm. "Is if I win, you gotta leave me alone. Deal?"

"Jaki'll win!" Jaki roared as he reached into the duffle bag at his waist, pulling out a large bulky duel disk that he slapped on his arm. "Jaki was taught by Typhon! And he only loses to Jaki's boss!"

'… _I had a feeling this was due to last night,'_ the smoker thought as both duelists slipped their decks into their duel disks, activating both of the machines at the same time. "Alright then Jaki, show me what ya got." (SLP: 8000)

"Jaki won't lose!" Jaki announced pulling off the top five cards from his deck, the same as the smoker did. (JLP: 8000)

'_Well, at least he's spirit and persistent,'_ The smoker thought to himself as he pulled off a sixth card from his deck. "Alright then, I hope ya don't mind, but I'll bet taking the first turn."

"Jaki don't mind," Jaki answered back with a smirk.

'_I think he was actually hoping to settle things this way,'_ The smoker thought as he looked at the sixth card he drew. '_In any case, this is a decent opening, I guess.'_

The smoker slapped a card onto his duel disk, making one horizontal face down card appear before him. "So, I'll start with a defense monster, and then I'll set one card face down. That's all for me right now."

As the set card appeared behind the set monster, Jaki smiled brightly (revealing the rows of slightly uneven teeth) and drew from his deck. "YAY! Jaki's turn! Jaki's turn!"

'… _Yep, he wanted to do things this way,'_ the smoker thought to himself.

"Ooh, the cards are shiny," Jaki muttered to himself as he waved his large hand over the small cards. "Now then, which one? Which one?"

"I think we can do without the singing," the smoker muttered.

"Jaki made his choice!" Jaki announced with a tune in his voice. "Jaki starts off by summoning Karakuri Ninja MDL 919 'Kuick'!"

The smoker blinked a few times when he heard that name, not only for the length, but also for the fact that this Wendigo managed to say it properly and quickly. In any case, appearing in front of the Wendigo was a tall and sleek wooden robot that was dressed to resemble that of a ninja with a kunai in one hand and a knife in the other. The machine seemed to strike a pose and then remained still (1700/1500).

"Next, Jaki play a spell card," Jaki announced fitting the card into his duel disk. "Jaki play's Dark World Dealings! Now, both Jaki and you draw a card and…"

"Then discard one," the smoker interrupted as he plucked the top card from his deck. "I'm not the best when it comes to identifying with cards, but I at least know enough to guess a few effects."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Jaki laughed as he pulled the top card from his deck.

And without any hesitation, both duelists slipped a card into their duel disk's graveyard slots, "Now then, Jaki's Kuick! Attack!"

The mechanical ninja began to move and ran across the field, immediately stabbing both the knife and dagger into the face down monster, revealing a large black feathered crane that had a flame popping from its head (1200/1000). The crane screeched loudly before it shattered.

"Now, Kuick's effect activates!" Jaki laughed as he reached into his graveyard. "Since Jaki's Kuick defeated a monster, Jaki can summon a Karakuri from Jaki's graveyard. Jaki chooses the one Jaki discarded – Karakuri Soldier MDL 236 'Nisamu'!"

Pulling the card from his graveyard, Jaki slapped the card onto his duel disk, allowing a second, bulky wooden robot appear in front of him, this one with a barrel strapped to its back with a bamboo spear in its hands (1400/200). The mechanical warrior knelt down and held the spear in front of its chest.

"Jaki's sad that Jaki can only summon him in defense mode," Jaki stated fitting two cards into his duel disk, making them appear behind both of his monsters. "But Jaki's fine with that, so, Jaki ends Jaki's turn."

'_I think I might go insane with all this third person speech,'_ the smoker thought as he pulled the top card from his deck, and looked at it. '_Hmm, this might do.'_

"Alright Jaki, for now I'm going to start off with my trap card – Haunted Shrine," the smoker announced pushing a button on his duel disk, allowing a ghostly flame to appear in front of him.

"Ooh, neat trick!" Jaki gasped in amazement at the sight of the flame.

"…" The smoker had to regain himself slightly before he reached into his graveyard. "In any case, thanks to this trap, I can now special summon one Zombie monster from my graveyard, and I choose the one you just destroyed – Onmoraki!"

A loud screech erupted from the flame, instantly allowing the same black feathered crane to appear in front of him (1200/1000). "And since he was just special summoned from the graveyard, I can draw one new card."

The smoker pulled the top card from his deck off and nodded at it, "Next comes my normal summon, so come on out Mezuki!"

A loud neighing sound echoed from the alleyway, allowing a large horse-headed demon to leap over the smoker's shoulder and land next to the Onmoraki with a loud snort (1700/800), spinning the battle axe in its hands.

"Now, for a favorite little combo of mine," the smoker stated as two flames erupted around both of his Yokai, making them both roar and screech loudly. "You see, thanks to you, I managed to ditch a powerful monster in my graveyard, one who can be special summoned from there, and in return it to the field.

"And all I have to do is tribute two face up Zombies on my field! So, let's bring out the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

The two flames crashed into each other, creating a larger flame that began surge and shape into a golden furred fox that had nine tails whipping through the air and slammed into the walls of the surrounding buildings (2200/2000).

"Ooh, that's pretty," Jaki cooed at the sight of the large fox. "But Jaki's not worried! Jaki's faced worse!"

"Good to know," The smoker chuckled as he threw his hand to the side. "Because when my fox is summoned this way, she gains two special abilities. One of which is a trample ability."

"… Now Jaki worried," Jaki muttered out loud as the Nine-Tailed Fox snarled loudly.

The fox roared loudly before it flew into the air, spinning around with several flames erupting from its body, "Good, cause now I'm going on the assault! Nine-Tailed Fox! Attack Nisamu!"

The flames that wheeled around the fox's body flew through the air and immediately crashed into the barrel carrying robot, burning it into nothing more than cinders that danced on the ground at Jaki's feet. (JLP: 6000)

"Hot! Hot! Jaki doesn't like the hot!" Jaki yelped a few times as he jumped away from the flames. "Not funny!"

"I wasn't laughing," the smoker pointed out pulling out a cigarette from his pocketed pack and fitted into his mouth.

"But Jaki's the one laughing!" Jaki continued, not bothering to listen to the smoker. "When Nisamu is destroyed, Jaki gets to summon another Karakuri from Jaki's deck! And Jaki chooses Karakuri Muso MDL 818 'Haipa'!"

A large, wood covered machine crashed into the ground, revealing a huge robot that was dressed to resemble that of the great Japanese warrior Benkei, with a dynamic trident in its hands (2100/1100).

"Hmm," The smoker muttered as he fitted two cards into his duel disk, making them appear on both sides of his fox. "Turn end."

"Yeah! Jaki's turn!" The Wendigo announced as he plucked off the top card from his deck and nodded. "First, Jaki set one card face down, then Jaki summon Karakuri Watchdog MDL 313 'Saizan'!"

A loud, rusty howl echoed through the air, allowing a large dog shaped, wood covered robot appear in front of the Wendigo, this machine armed with a pair of canons mounted on its back (600/1800). "Jaki then attacks! Saizan! Attack the foxy!"

The large mechanical dog leapt through the air, aiming to take down the larger Nine-Tailed Fox, however two of the fox's tails slammed into the machine, sending it staggering back. (JLP: 4400)

"Alright," the smoker stated, raising his lighter to the cigarette in his mouth. "If you wanted to lose so much, you could've just let me go."

"Nah, Jaki do that to use Saizan's effect!" Jaki laughed loudly as a powerful aura erupted over all three of his Karakuri monsters. "Saizan can't be destroyed in battle while in attack mode, and when Jaki takes battle damage involving Saizan, Jaki can increase all Karakuri monsters' attacks and defense Jaki has by eight hundred!"

The aura began to disappear into all three of the mechanical Japanese machines (600/1800 + 800/800) (2100/1100 + 800/800) (1700/1500 + 800/800). "Now, Kuick! Attack his Fox!"

The large Karakuri Ninja leapt through the air and immediately stabbed both of its weapons into the Nine-Tailed Fox, making the Yokai shatter into millions of pixels. (SLP: 7700)

"And thanks to that, you just activated my fox's second ability!" the smoker announced as two small flames popped up in front of him, forming into two small yellow furred foxes that yawned loudly (300/300 x2). "When destroyed, I can special summon two Fox Tokens to my field in defense mode."

"Jaki gets an effect too!" Jaki announced as Nisamu reappeared on the field, crouching down (1400/200). "Kuick brings back Nisamu!"

"Impressive, I guess," the smoker stated with a shrug. "But I can easily just bring back my fox next turn and…"

"Nuh, uh, uh," Jaki snickered as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "Jaki's gonna get Jaki's revenge! Jaki plays Jaki's trap card – Final Attack Orders! Now all monsters go into attack mode!"

The smoker's eyes widened when he heard that, and watched as Nisamu and his two Fox Tokens stood up tall. "… Maybe I've gotten a little rusty over the years…"

"Jaki don't know what you're saying," Jaki stated throwing his hand forward. "But it doesn't matter, Jaki's about to clean house! Haipa! Attack one of his tokens!"

The larger Karakuri stomped forward, spinning around and prepared to stab its trident into one of the foxes. However, a powerful vortex erupted in between the two monsters, instantly sending Haipa skidding backwards. Taking a long drag on his cigarette, the smoker smirked as he held up one of his cards from his duel disk, "Nah, I haven't lost my touch at all. Negate Attack is still a pretty sound trap card."

"Yeah, but Jaki's not done yet!" Jaki announced fitting a card into his duel disk. "Jaki plays Mystik Wok! Now, Jaki gains life points equal to Haipa's attack points!"

Haipa disappeared into a cloud of steam that flowed over Jaki's body, allowing the Wendigo to breathe deeply and smirk wildly. (JLP: 7300)

"Okay, Jaki done for now," Jaki chuckled, that goofy smirk appearing back on his face as his Saizan and Kuick returned to their normal stats.

The smoker slowly pulled off the top card from his deck and raised an eyebrow at the card, "Now here's a face I haven't seen in a while, not since I was in the City of Angels. I wonder why I don't normally play this guy…"

"Huh?" Jaki questioned, tilting his head to the side slightly. "You go crazy or something?"

"Listening to how you talk can certainly drain a man's sanity," the smoker replied as both of his Fox Tokens began to run around their duelist's feet. "But no, I just figured since you want me to have my monsters in attack mode, then I'll be more than glad to oblige! I sacrifice both of my Fox Tokens in order to bring out the big guns…

"And I'm not talking figuratively – Daidarabotchi!"

Both of the small foxes leapt into the air, both of them turning into an orb of fire that flew through the air and then slammed into each other, forming into a single being that grew in midair. Finally it slammed down on the ground, creating a heavy crater around it. As the newest Yokai began to stand up, it was revealed to be a gigantic monster that was rather hideous, heavy set with large muscles under its auburn skin, a strange looking helmet, and a single glaring out over a slobbering mouth, tongue lolling out.

The monster roared loudly before it slammed its fists together, creating a powerful impact that made all three of the Karakuri on Jaki's field slide back slightly (2900/2500). At the same time, the sound of a can bouncing on concrete echoed through the air, but was drowned out by the impact created by the Daidarabotchi.

Jaki lifted his head up, his mouth wide open at the sight of the large one eyed monster, "… Wow… Not a lot of things are bigger than Jaki. Jaki's impressed!"

"I'd save your amazement for after the turn's over with," The smoker announced as he slipped a card into his duel disk. "Cause now I'm playing the continuous spell card – Mysterious Mysteries, which turns all monsters on the field into Zombies."

Three ghostly spirits appeared around all three of Jaki's monsters, instantly leaping into the machines. "Uh, Jaki's curious. Why would you do that?"

"You see, Daidarabotchi gains two hundred bonus attack points for each other zombie on the field," the smoker explained with a smirk on his face as the gigantic titan's muscular body began to pulse with power (2900/2500 + 600/0). "Making him more than a match for anything you've got out on the field, and so – Daidarabotchi! Attack his Kuick!"

The large giant pulled its fist back and immediately slammed it into the smaller robot, shattering the wood covered machine into small bits that flew into Jaki's body. "GARGH!" (JLP: 5400)

Jaki stumbled back a few feet, clutching his chest as the aftereffects of the attack began to fade away, and the Daidarabotchi pulled its fist back (3500/2500 – 200/0). "Ha… Ha… Heh, now Jaki sees why boss is interested in finding you. Heck, even Jaki was a little surprised how you were able to land some blows against Jaki's boss and Jaki's duel mentor."

"Oh?" The smoker questioned, pulling his cigarette from his mouth. "And your boss… Would he happen to be a big guy with silver hair?"

"Yep!" Jaki laughed with a bright smile on his face. "He really mad after you did a number to him, but he wanna find ya!"

The smoker stopped for a second before he fitted the cigarette back in his mouth, "Tell me something Jaki, does your boss know a guy who usually wear a white overcoat, has dark black hair and an attitude that would make you sick?"

"Huh?" Jaki questioned with his head tilted slightly. "Jaki don't think so… Jaki would remember someone like that. Jaki does remember a blue tattooed guy! You wanna know about him?"

'_So much for there being a connection between this BackDraft Corps and him…'_ The smoker thought looking at the rest of his hand. "Well, thanks but no thanks, let's just continue with the original wager."

"Original wager?" Jaki asked, blinking a few times. "OH! Right! Jaki wins, then Jaki gets to take you to Jaki's boss!"

"Right, and if I win," the smoker continued with his eyes closed. "Then you gotta leave me alone."

"Fine," Jaki moaned with his head lowered. "But Jaki thinks you're just as good as Typhon! If Jaki beats you, then Jaki's better than Typhon!"

"… I'm just going to end my turn," the smoker announced with a shake of his head.

"Goodie!" Jaki laughed with his tongue hanging out as he drew from the top of his deck. "That means that Jaki can bring out his best too!"

"Huh?" The smoker questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Jaki's got what he needs out on the field!" Jaki announced as he threw his hand up into the air. "Nisamu is level four, and Saizan's level four too!"

"What's that got to do with anything?" The smoker questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Jaki forgot to mention this about Saizan," the wendigo chuckled as the mechanized guard dog leapt into the air, shattering into four rings of light. "He's a tuner!"

The smoker almost dropped the cigarette from his mouth as he watched the four rings of light float over Nisamu's body, transforming the machine into a large tower of light in front of the Wendigo. The light shattered into millions of shards, forming into a large daunting robotic samurai with long, flowing red robes and two long katanas that the machine spun about (2800/1700). "Yay! Karakuri Steel Shogun MDL 00X 'Bureido' is out! Yeah! Jaki did it!

And when Jaki does, Jaki can summon another Karakuri from Jaki's deck! So, Jaki chooses… Hmm… Oh! Jaki chooses a second Karakuri Muso MDL 818 'Haipa'!"

In a flash of light, a second Haipa appeared on the field, spinning the trident in its hands (2100/1100). "But Jaki won't have him on the field for long, Jaki's playing the spell Jaki drew this turn! Gift of the Martyr! Now, Jaki's Haipa empowers Bureido!"

The large Haipa shattered into millions of gears and cogs that flew onto the spiked armor of Buriedo, making the shogun cross his two katanas (2800/1700 + 2100/0), creating a powerful surge of sparks that flew into Daidarabotchi's face, making the large demon stagger backwards (3300/2500 – 200/0). "Now then, Jaki goes on the attack! Bureido! Cleave his Daidarabotchi in two!"

The large mechanical samurai nodded towards its duelist before leaping high into the air, spun through the enclosed area and flew towards the Yokai giant. The Daidarabotchi threw a fist towards the shogun, however, the machine rolled over fist and jumped from the auburn skin and stabbed both of its katanas into the Yokai giant's face, making the demon screech out loudly in pain before it shattered into several flames that flew around the smoker's body. (SLP: 5500)

"Yeah! Jaki did it!" Jaki cheered loudly as he danced about the alleyway, Bureido landing back in front of him, stabbing both of his katanas into the ground. Even the robotic samurai seemed pleased with his victory and nodded in agreement.

The smoker merely pulled his cigarette from his mouth and sighed loudly, "Yes, congratulations."

"Thanks!" Jaki laughed loudly with a dumb smile on his face. "Jaki's really proud of his tactics!"

'_I am seriously getting a weird reading on this guy,'_ The smoker thought, waving his cigarette slightly, making some of the ash fall to the ground. '_Big Wendigo aren't known for their smarts, but they can duel and talk just fine, although, their strategies do tend to be as thought out as this one's. Maybe things have changed more than I thought.'_

"Ah, Jaki's gonna sleep good tonight," Jaki laughed joyfully as he looked at his hand and slapped a card face down. "Jaki ends Jaki's turn by setting a monster. Jaki now ends his turn!"

As he spoke that, Bureido's extra gears began to fall from his body (2800/1700).

"Alright, then my…" The smoker announced as he pulled the top card from his deck.

"Jaki activates Jaki's trap card!" Jaki announced as a spot light erupted over the two duelists. "Light of Intervention!"

"… So much for defense," the smoker muttered. "But man, even I know that combo. It's an old one."

"Yeah, Jaki likes the oldies," Jaki answered rubbing the back of his antlers. "In any case, Jaki's sorry for interrupting, please, continue."

"Thanks," The smoker stated looking at the card in his hand. "In any case, it's not like I like I was going to defend anyway this turn. I play the spell card, Foolish Burial, now I can discard a monster from my deck to my graveyard. But, its not staying there for long, I play my trap card, Call of the Haunted! Now, I can bring back Crow Tengu!"

As the smoker's face down care flipped up, unleashing the black feathered Tengu to fly through the air, screeching loudly (1400/1200). "And when he's special summoned, I can destroy one monster on your field, and your Shogun is going to the scrap heap!"

The Crow Tengu flew high and immediately dove through the air, immediately piercing right through the mechanical samurai's chest, shattering him into several parts. Jaki's eyes widened as he watched his Shogun fall to its knees before it shattered into millions of pieces. "URK!"

"Next, I'll activate Mezuki's effect," The smoker continued as he pulled two cards out from his graveyard slot. "By removing him from the game, I can special summon Onmoraki from my graveyard."

A powerful flame erupted in front of the smoker, allowing the large black crane to reappear in front of him (1200/1000). "And you remember what my Yokai here can do when special summoned from the graveyard, correct? I get to draw another card."

And with that draw, the smoker nodded at the cards in his hand and quickly threw his hand forward, "But, don't think I'm done. Since I have my Nine-Tailed Fox in the graveyard, I can tribute these two guys in order to bring her back!"

Two powerful flames erupted over the field, instantly swallowing both of the smoker's monsters. And when the flames collided, the Nine-Tailed Fox leapt from them, snarling loudly (2200/2000).

"And, I've still got my normal summon for this turn," The smoker announced as he slapped a card onto his duel disk. "So, I'll summon Shutendoji from my hand!"

A second flame erupted over the field, allowing the drunken ogre to stumble onto the field, swinging the gourd of sake about (1500/800). "Now, I use his effect, allowing me to return Mezuki to the top of my deck."

The smoker quickly did as he announced, slipping the card from his pocket to the top of his deck. "But that doesn't matter, what does is that now I'm going on the attack! Nine-Tailed Fox! Attack his face down monster!"

Snarling loudly, the large golden furred fox snapped its tails out straight, allowing several flames to erupt at the tails' tips. And with a whipping motion, the fox sent all nine of the flames crashing into the face down monster, shattering the card into millions of pieces. Amongst the remains of the card was a familiar small gray jar that had a large eye popping out from the mouth of the jar (700/600) that immediately disappeared as well. (JLP: 3800)

"J-Jaki's glad!" Jaki cheered as he fitted the rest of his hand of cards into his duel disk's graveyard slot. And then he quickly reached for his deck. "Cause that was Jaki's Morphing Jar! Now Jaki and… And… Jaki forgets your name."

"I never gave it," the smoker answered fitting the few cards in his hand into the graveyard, and then pulled off the top five cards from his deck. "Let's just continue, okay?"

"Okay!" Jaki announced, flicking off five cards from his deck. "Ooh, Jaki like! Jaki really like!"

"You kinda forgot something," The smoker stated throwing his hand forward. "I still have my Shutendoji out on the field! And I can burn off more of your life points!"

With a devilish smirk, the Shutendoji lifted up the gourd to its mouth, took a long swig from the alcohol container. Then, pulling the gourd away, the ogre unleashed a powerful flame from its mouth that flew into Jaki's body staggering backwards. (JLP: 2300)

The smoker held up three cards from his hand, and quickly slid them into his duel disk, making them appear behind his two Yokai. "Three set cards, and turn end!"

"Jaki's impressed," Jaki stated, drawing a card from his deck. And almost immediately he fitted a card into his duel disk, allowing the wind around him to swirl around the Wendigo's body. "Too bad Jaki's not going down yet! Jaki plays Jaki's Double Cyclone! Now, by destroying Jaki's Light of Intervention, Jaki gets to destroy Mysterious Mysteries!"

Both cyclones flew through the air and immediately slammed into the selected cards, breaking them into floating shards. The smoker pulled his cigarette from his mouth and tapped some of the ashes away, "Not bad, now there's a chance for defense. Seems like a waste though…"

"Nah, Jaki's all for it," the wendigo replied as he fitted a card into his duel disk, allowing a powerful aura erupt from his field. "Next, Jaki plays his spell card, Monster Reborn! So, one of Jaki's monsters gets… Reborn. Bureido!"

In a flash of light, the powerful mechanical shogun appeared, crossing the two blades in his hands (2800/1700). "Then, Jaki plays one of Jaki's favorite equip cards – Engine Tuner!"

Three small, cartoonish engineers appeared in front of Bureido and began their work on the mechanical samurai with their various tools. A few moments passed and all three of the engineers leapt off Buriedo, revealing that he was upgraded with two new arms, both of which held onto another katana (2800/1700 + 850/0). "Now Bureido's attack increases by half of his defense! And Jaki's not done yet! Jaki plays another spell card – Electronic Motor!"

A small car battery appeared behind the large steel shogun, the small energy source charged with electricity. Two jumper cables materialized, connected to both Bureido and the car battery, allowing the electricity to surge into the shogun's body (3650/1700 + 300/0). "Now all machines gain three hundred more attack points! Now, Jaki summon Karakuri Bushi MDL 6318 'Muzanichiha' in attack mode!"

Another light popped onto the field, instantly allowing another robotic figure appear on the field, this one wielding a long katana and dressed in a straw hat/mask that covered its face (1800/600 + 300/0).

"Now, Jaki wants to do this again!" Jaki announced throwing his hand up into the air. "Bureido! Attack his fox!"

The large mechanical shogun ran across the field, holding back all of the katanas in its robotic hands. And with a powerful spin, the mechanical warrior sliced through the fox, scattering it into millions of embers. (SLP: 3750)

"Remember, I get two tokens," The smoker announced as the small fox pups appeared in front of him (300/300 x2).

"Jaki didn't forget," Jaki answered with a large grin on his face. "In fact, Jaki was hoping you'd do that! Cause thanks to Jaki's Final Attack Orders, your tokens get summoned in attack mode! Meaning Muzanichiha can inflict more damage to your life points!"

The robotic samurai skidded across the ground, heading straight towards the token monster. And with a powerful slash, Muzanichiha cleaved the fox in two, making it burst into flames that rippled over the smoker's body. (SLP: 3750)

"Huh?" Jaki questioned, as he blinked a few times at the flames that swirled around the smoker's body. "Jaki's confused, why didn't your life points fall?"

The smoker pulled his dwindling cigarette from his mouth and pointed it towards one of the face down cards that had flipped up. "Defense Draw. Allows me to negate one instance of damage and then draw a card from his deck."

"Oh," Jaki muttered looking over the last few cards in his hand. "Hmm, oh well, Jaki sets one card then Jaki end's Jaki's turn."

The smoker pulled off the top card from his deck and raise an eyebrow at what he drew, "… Finally, I was wondering where one of these guys were."

"Huh?" Jaki muttered with his head tilted to the side. "What you draw?"

"It's a tuner monster," The smoker stated turning the card around, revealing a cat-like monster on the card. "And I'll summon him out! Gotokuneko!"

A powerful flame popped onto the field, forming into a small, red and black furred cat that held onto a long bamboo shoot that had a flame at the end of it. The flame flickered about as the cat mewed loudly (800/300).

"Nice kitty," Jaki whistled tilting his head to the side. "But…"

"I choose to tune my level two Gotokuneko," the smoker announced as he snapped his fingers together, which made the fiery cat leap into the air. The Gotokuneko popped into two rings that flew around the smoker's two other monsters. "My level four Shutendoji, and my level one Fox Token!"

The two fore-mentioned monsters transformed into a powerful cyclone of wind that swept through the alleyway, pushing back both of Jaki's monsters as well as Jaki himself a few inches back. When the wind died down, a new monster was standing before the smoker.

This monster was a sleek, dark purple skinned oni with two horns sticking out from its long shaggy black hair. Over its slim frame, the oni was dressed in white light armor that covered up the Yokai's legs and shoulders and had red gauntlets and face paint. In this demon's hands were a pair of red drumsticks that were covered in flames (2400/2000). "Hibiki!"

"Ooh, nice monster!" Jaki announced with a large smirk on his face. "Too bad Jaki's got a stronger monster!"

"Good point," The smoker stated as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "That's why I'm activating another trap card – Rising Energy! So, by ditching Mezuki, I can increase Hibiki's attack by fifteen hundred points!"

A powerful fiery aura erupted over the Hibiki's body, instantly powering up the Yokai warrior (2400/2000 + 1500/0).

"Still not enough!" Jaki laughed out loud with a wag of his finger. "Jaki's math grades might've been low, but Jaki knows that your cool monster's attack is lower than Bureido's and that if you attack Jaki's Muzanichiha, then Jaki can still survive! And if you do summon your Nine-Tailed Fox, then Jaki knows that you still can't inflict enough damage to Jaki's life points to win."

'_And thanks to Jaki's trap card – Call of the Haunted, Jaki can bring back Bureido, and then thanks to Jaki's equip spell effect, Jaki can reequip it to Bureido and destroy his Yokai with overwhelming force!'_

"Quite so," The smoker stated reaching into his graveyard slot, pulling out two cards. "But thanks to your Morphing Jar, I had to discard another monster from my hand, one that can really end this right now. I activate Mezuki's effect to remove it from play in order to special summon Tanuki Spirit!"

A large cloud of smoke popped onto the field right next to the Hibiki, which allowed a small cute raccoon dog with a collar around its neck to appear on the field. The raccoon dog shook its head, which made the three bells on its collar jingle loudly (500/400).

"Uh… Jaki's confused," Jaki stated scratching the top of his head. "What can that monster do? And Jaki's beginning to see something weird here – A lot of your monsters are cute…"

"Your point being?" The smoker questioned with his eyebrow rose up as he snapped his fingers, making the Tanuki jump onto the back of the Hibiki. "Sometimes the cutest creatures are the ones that you have to look out for, I learned that from a lass that I had the pleasure of working with three years ago.

"And my Tanuki Spirit is no exception! It's a union monster that can equip to any Zombie-type monster on my field. And with me, that's practically every monster at my disposal – Including Hibiki!"

The Tanuki popped into a large cloud of smoke that wrapped itself around the Hibiki's neck, instantly the smoke solidified and formed into a large collar around the purple-skinned demon's neck. The bells around the echo demon's neck jiggled for a few seconds as the demon lifted its drumsticks up into the air (3900/2000 + 500/0).

"Uh oh…" Jaki mumbled taking a step back.

"Good to see that you're capable of basic mathematics," The smoker stated as he threw his hand forward. "Hibiki! End this!"

With a powerful leap, the empowered echo demon flew through the air, and landed right in front of Muzanichiha. Before the robotic samurai could react in time, the echo demon slammed both of its drumsticks into the karakuri, but instead of metal on metal sounds, the blows produced a deep drum beat that echoed through the alleyway. And even though he was on the verge of defeat, Jaki couldn't help but tap his foot to the traditional music that was being played. "Funky, but Jaki likes!"

Then with a quick spin, the Hibiki slammed both of its drum sticks into the Muzanichiha, sending the machine flying through the air and shattered it into millions of parts that rained down over the Wendigo's body. (JLP: 0)

The smoker smirked before he tossed his cigarette to the ground, stomping on it. "And that's game."

"Aw… Jaki lost," Jaki moaned as all of the holograms began to disappear. "Boss is going to be mad with Jaki!"

"Ya know, you don't have to tell him you found me," The smoker pointed out, crossing his arms to pull his deck out of his duel disk.

"Nuh, uh," Jaki replied as he shook his head. "Jaki may be a crook, but Jaki's an honest Wendigo. If Jaki wasn't, then Jaki would not accept your terms."

"Good point," The smoker admitted with a shake of his head. "Now, go on, get out of here."

"Jaki will," Jaki sighed as he slumped his head down and began to walk backwards. "And Jaki will be back! Jaki will make sure of that!"

A few moments later, Jaki was out of the alleyway and had disappeared into the crowds, which left the smoker alone in the alley. "… Well, that was weird. And it seemed rather pointless too. Oh well…

"And as for you two, you can come out, I know you're there."

The smoker turned his gaze towards the opening of the alleyway, and two figures began to walk into the alleyway. The one in the black overcoat pushed up her glasses and stepped forward. "Oh? And when were you able to detect us?"

"Just about the time when I summon Daidarabotchi," The smoker answered, arms crossed over his chest at the two newcomers. "Mind telling me why you were so keyed into watching this duel? I know that my duels can be eye-catching, but still…"

"It's not everyday that a Wendigo attacks a person," the glasses wearing woman replied, while Lynne was looking at the smoker strangely. "Especially in a public place where a panic could ensue."

"Hey, Hardin, are you sure its okay to say that?" The other woman questioned.

"It's not a problem Lynne," Hardin responded, not turning to face Lynne. "After all, he and I appear to be in the same occupation."

"Oh yeah! He's got that mark on his face too!" Lynne laughed slightly, her face a little red. "Almost thought he was a criminal with that thing on his face."

"You're both wrong actually," The smoker replied as he slowly began to walk towards the entrance to the alley. "I'm neither a criminal, nor a Shadowchaser."

As the smoker was about to pass Hardin, the overcoat-dressed Shadowchaser threw her arm out in front of the man, stopping the smoker in his tracks. "I could care less about why you have that mark on your face at the moment. I'm more concerned with why a wendigo would come after you."

"And your point is?" The smoker retorted.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions," Hardin answered clearly and precisely, and she pointed her free hand towards Lynne. "And if you don't agree, I'm sure my friend here can put you under arrest for a domestic disturbance."

"Yeesh, way to make me seem like a tool," Lynne grumbled under her breath.

The smoker sighed loudly, "Fine. But, let's talk somewhere more private."

"Of course," Hardin replied as she lowered her arm in front of the smoker. "Lynne, do you think we can use your office?"

"Why not," Lynne answered with a wave of her hand. "Besides, I want to hear some answers from this guy as well."

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, '_… I might just be able to get some of my questions answered as well…'_

"In any case," Hardin stated, making the smoker open his eyes. "We should get introductions out of the way. I'm known as Hardin and my gumshoe of a friend over here is Detective Lynne."

Lynne just waved silently to the smoker who was reaching for his pack of smokes, "Normally, a gentleman gives his name first, but, whatever. I don't really care for formalities anymore, but being rude isn't really my style.

"So, the name's Hyde Vayne. Nice to meet you both."

_TBC_

**TTTTTTTT**

**Onmoraki / Fire / LV. 4 / ATK: 1200 / DEF: 1000 / Zombie/Effect:** If this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, draw 1 card.

**Description: **Crane with a large flame popping on the top of its head.

**Nine-Tailed Fox / Fire / LV. 6 / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 2000 / Zombie/Effect:** While this card is in your Graveyard, you can Tribute 2 Zombie-Type monsters to Special Summon this card. If this card is Special Summoned from your Graveyard this way, it gains the following effects:

During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

When this card is destroyed and sent from the field to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 "Fox Tokens" (Zombie/Fire/LV 1/ ATK: 300 / DEF: 300) to your side of the field in defense mode.

**Description:** A large, and beautiful golden furred fox with nine long tails.

**Daidarabotchi / Dark / LV. 10 / ATK: 2900 / DEF: 2500 / Zombie / Effect**: This card cannot be Special Summoned. This card gains 200 ATK for each ZOMBIE-Monster on the field.

**Description:** a gigantic monster that was rather hideous, heavy set with large muscles under its auburn skin, a strange looking helmet, and a single glaring out over a slobbering mouth, tongue lolling out

**Mysterious Mysteries / Continuous Spell / Effect:** All monsters on the field are treated as Zombie-Type monsters.

**Image:** Several spirits haunting a Japanese graveyard

_The preceding cards were first used by Misawa in the Yugioh GX Manga._

**Engine Tuner / Equip Spell / Effect:** A monster equipped with this card is changed to attack position and remains in Attack Position while this card is active. The equipped monster has its ATK increased by an amount equal to half of its DEF. When the monster equipped with this card is destroyed, this card remains face up on the field and can be activated again during your Main Phase.

**Image:** Three small mechanics holding up various tools.

_This card was used by Bandit Keith in the Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga_

**Electronic Motor / Continuous Spell / Effect:** All face-up Machine-type monsters you control gain 300 ATK.

**Image:** A cartoonish robot getting a power boost from a car battery

_This card was used by Austin O'Brien in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga._

**Gotokuneko / Fire / LV. 2 / ATK: 800 / DEF: 300 / Zombie/Tuner:** When this card is summoned from your hand, and you control no other monsters, you may Special Summon one Level 4 or less Zombie-Type monster from your Hand. The Effects of the Special Summoned monster are negated. Remove the Special Summoned monster from play when it is removed from the field. After using this effect remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.

**Description:** A small red furred cat standing on its hind legs with a small bamboo shoot held in its front paws

_This card was created and designed by jBakura, many thanks to him for designing an awesome card._

**Hibiki / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 2000 / Zombie/Synchro/Effect:** [1 Tuner Monster + 1 or more Non-Tuner Zombie Monster(s)] This card has the following effects:

-) During your opponent's battle phase, if this card is selected for an attack target, you may remove one Zombie-Type monster from your graveyard to negate that attack.

-) Return two removed from play Zombie-Type monsters back to their owner's decks. Select one face up monster on the field and halve that monster's ATK and DEF until the end phase.

**Description:** A sleek, dark purple skinned oni with two horns sticking out from its long shaggy black hair, dressed in white light armor that covered up the Yokai's legs and shoulders and had red gauntlets and face paint. In this demon's hands were a pair of red drumsticks that were covered in flames

**Tanuki Spirit / Earth / LV. 2 / ATK: 500 / DEF: 400 / Zombie/Union:** Once per turn, during your Main Phase, if you control this monster on the field you can equip it to one Zombie-Type monster as an Equip Spell card, OR change it back to a monster in face-up Attack position. When equipped to a monster by this card's effect, that monster gains 500 ATK and DEF. When the equipped monster destroys a monster in battle, your opponent must discard one card from the top of their deck or from their hand. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union Monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, this card is destroyed instead.)

**Description: **A large raccoon dog with a collar around its neck with a trio of golden bells attached to the collar.

_The previous two cards were used in Shadowchaser: Risen Nemesis by Hyde Vayne._

**TTTTTTTTTT**

**With his name finally revealed, this tale of this wanderer – Hyde Vayne finally begins its depths into the darkness of this city.**

**But, darkness not only surrounds this mysterious man…**

**And he is not the only one to go against it!**

**For even in the calmest and purest places, a dark sin can be born to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting masses.**

_**Next time on Dark City Chronicles…**_

_**Draw 2**_

_**Scapegoat **_

**Never underestimate the meek.**


	3. Draw 2: Scapegoat

_**Um, hi? I guess…**_

_**I… I haven't been introduced into the story physically yet, b-but I've been mentioned a f-few times. S-So, this is the part where I have to say something meaningful, r-r-right?**_

_**Ahem.**_

_**There are many kinds of strengths in this world of ours, and everyone has at least one of them to their name. Whether it be physical strength, the strength of the mind, or even the strength of the heart. **_

_**Each of these strengths themselves have their finer and lower points to them as well. Strength of the body is obvious with bestowing a person with physical abilities, however, people with this kind of strength tend to live only for the bodily pleasures and aim to maintain their body continuously.**_

_**The strength of the mind is not so different, and it can give a person the ability to fully think things through and make rational decisions. However, people with this strength usually over think and can't take action when it needs to be done on the minute. **_

_**And finally the strength of the heart, well, if you've ever watched a corny anime, kids show or movie like that, you know what this means. It means kindness and compassion, but it is a fragile strength and one that can be easily tainted.**_

_**These are only but a few of the strengths mentioned, but they are the most common that people can display. And these strengths are ever changing and interacting with each other. **_

_**My s-s-strength?**_

_**W-Well, that's… That's…**_

_**I'll have to get back to you on that…**_

**TTTTTTT**

**Draw 2**

**Scapegoat**

**TTTTTTTTT**

_Tossing his silver vest to the side, Grogg made his way to the couch and crashed on it. With his head thrown back, Grogg groaned loudly. "Damn it… With all the crap I have to deal with, what have I done to deserve this!"_

"_Are you trying to be ironic or something?"_

_Grogg nearly jumped from the couch when he heard that voice, and immediately turned his attention forward to see that the dragon painting had lifted up to reveal a large plasma screen television that had a shadowed face sighing at the sight of Grogg. _

_And almost immediately, Grogg's look of surprise transformed into a look of pure disgust, "What do you want? I was just about to crash."_

"_Because we have things we must discuss," The shadowed face retorted, visibly shaking his head slightly. "This little tiff we're having is pointless, and as long as we're having this bad blood between us, we'll have incidents like last night and…"_

"_Does it look like I gives a rat's ass about that?" Grogg spat back his eyes narrowed down at the shadowed face. "I'm not interested in listening to whatever crap you spout out, so why don't you take your sorry ass and get off my television!"_

"_Grogg! This is highly unprofessional!" the shadowed face snarled back. "If we keep up this feud, then all of the hard work we put into the Backdraft Corps will be all for naught! Do you want that to happen? Do you want years of work to be wasted?"_

"… _After what you did," Grogg sighed loudly with his head lowered down. "Do you think I care about anything concerning you? Get off my case, and let me sleep. If you wanna discuss things with me, we can always have a rumble in the streets to clear things up!"_

On the other side of that line, the man that Grogg was speaking to shook his head. "Damn it, he hung up on me."

The man who had spoken to Grogg lowered his head towards the desk he was seated at, which made his short golden hair billow over his forehead. He had a tall, yet slightly muscular build (you could still call him slim) and was dressed in an Italian suit that had seen better days. "Grogg's as immature as always. It's hard to believe he's the older one of the two of us."

Pushing himself from the desk, the golden haired man stood up and looked around the room. Like Grogg's room, this man's office was decorated with several pieces of older eastern arts – Instead of paintings however, there were tapestries that displayed beautiful women in formal attire.

But the room also held onto several expensive pieces of leather furniture with a small plasma screen television across from the golden haired man's desk. Frankly, it was a decently furnished room, with a mixture of fine arts and expensive electronics.

The golden haired man immediately sat up straight, his right hand brought to his face so he could rub his eyes. '_I swear, Grogg's gonna be the death of me. And after such an immature reason to do this sort of stuff…'_

Taking his hand away from his eyes, the golden haired man looked over his desk. His eyes were immediately drawn to the lone picture frame that sat on his desk. The picture in the frame had three people together, each of them holding up a large glass mug of beer over their heads. One of them was Grogg (albeit a little less muscular), the second was the golden haired man himself and the third was…

The golden haired man placed his hand on the frame and placed it face down on the desk with a sigh. '_Looks like those days are long gone… Things change all the time Raiden, you know this better than anyone else._

'_Still, I didn't think things would escalate to the point that Grogg would break the BackDraft Corps in two.'_

The golden haired Raiden pushed himself away from the desk and began to walk over to one of the wall scrolls, just for the sake of him having a chance to clear his mind and enjoy the formal artwork that was before him. "… Knowing him, he's probably sleeping the day away. After the stuff that went down last night, it wouldn't surprise me."

Raiden would've continued to look at the beautiful artwork, if it wasn't for the loud knocks against the door to his office. "Hmm?"

**TTTTTTTTTT**

_Time: 10:22 a.m._

_Location: Manhattan General Hospital_

It was barely even two hours since Hardin was at this very same hospital, but even then, this place didn't change. The morning was no longer young, but it was still a calm and pristine time, perfect for people who need to recover.

The white hallways were as flawless as a clear blue sky with the young doctors and nurses walking around the halls to take care of their patients, and the patients themselves rested in rooms that lined the halls.

In one such room…

"Alright mister…" the doctor muttered as he looked over the charts in his hands. "… I'm sorry, but how do you pronounce this?"

"H… Hitsuji."

"You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Hitsuji," The doctor coughed with a slight blush on his face. "I've been under a lot of stress and I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately… Being on call lately is more hellish than usual."

"N-No worries… It h-h-happens. Um, b-b-but c-c-could you call me K-Kuroi?"

"In any case," The doctor continued onwards. "We have the results, all you have is a few bruises and a slight concussion, but other than that, you should be fine. Although, I have to say that I was surprised to see someone like you get injuries like that…"

"Oh, um, it c-comes with the j-job."

The doctor rubbed his head at the sight of stuttering young man(?) before him, indeed you wouldn't expect a person like the one before him to have fighting injuries. Seated on the bed was a rather short young man with extremely pale skin with a scrawny body. He had extremely long black hair that seemed to reach to the small of his back and was topped with some bandages that were wrapped around his head. His oddly cute (and slightly girlish) face had a small pair of glasses on his small nose and had a bandage on his right cheek.

He was dressed in rather unique attire, having been allowed the chance to change back into his regular clothes when he woke up minutes ago – A pair of white pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, and a bulky red vest that had a lot of pockets on it. "S-So… Am I a-a-allowed to leave?"

"Well, Mr. Hitsuji," the doctor began to answer. "From what we can see, there shouldn't be any long term ramifications… But, I'd prefer to have you wait here for one of your associates to pick you up. You may have rested a little bit, but I wouldn't want someone like you to get behind the wheel of anything.

"But if you're determined, I could call you a cab if you require."

"Um… W-Well," Kuroi muttered to himself as he brought up his hands, revealing that he had a pair of fingerless gloves on his hands (which seemed to have a weird rune on both of them). "It d-d-doesn't matter to me, if you t-t-think that…"

Kuroi would've continued, if it wasn't for the fact that a loud scream echoed through the hospital, making both Kuroi and the doctor jump up in surprise. The doctor's eyes widened and he turned towards the door, "That's right next door!"

"Huh?" Kuroi questioned as he watched the doctor rush out of the room. "Um…"

In the next room, the doctor ran through the opened door to see that several nurses were gathered around a bed that had a young child thrashing about in the bed, the nurses trying to restraint and calm the child down. The doctor that was with Kuroi ran alongside the bed and turned towards one of the nurses, "What's happening here?"

"This kid just started screaming loudly!" One of the nurses answered back, dodging a thrashing kick from the kid. "We're trying to figure out why, but we need to calm him down first!"

Unknown to the doctor and nurses, there was something on the young kid's forehead, a weird blue mark that had something that looked similar to teeth marks. The medical staff couldn't see it, however, from where Kuroi stood in the doorway, he could see it as clear as the nose on a person's face. "… Uh… T-That mark… Could it be?"

Kuroi stepped away from the door and leaned against the nearby wall, his nervous face now looked completely serious. "… I t-think I need to make a c-c-call…"

**TTTTTTT**

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Huh?" The golden haired man questioned as he turned towards the door. "If you're a cop, no one's here. If you're the Chinese Delivery Boy again, you're looking for next door."

"Raiden, sir, it's me."

The golden haired man, Raiden sighed loudly as he waved his hand, "Come in, come in."

The door opened up, and almost instantly was blocked by an extremely large man, his muscle bound body covered with a fancy black suit. Odd thing was, the man was too big to get in through the door, "I think you'll understand if I can't come in, sir."

"Sorry about that," Raiden muttered with his head lowered slightly. "The head of maintenance hasn't had a chance to get to my office to get those new doors put in."

"It matters not sir," the large shadowed man answered back with a slight bow. "I don't have a lot of business to discuss today, sir."

"Oh?" Raiden questioned with a raised eyebrow. "And what might that be?"

"Well, there are only three things of business to really discuss," the shadowed man replied, holding up a clipboard to him. "One of them concerns with the loss of your brother's warehouse…"

"Thank the heavens that he was insistent on owning that rust bucket," Raiden muttered to himself. "The damn building's form is in his name."

"… Indeed," The shadowed man coughed, flipping a few pages on the paper. "But still, it's something to point out. However, as you stated, it's in his name, so we shouldn't have any trouble. We didn't have any documents, workers, or material stock in the building, so we shouldn't have to deal with any of the Shadowchasers or law enforcement coming after us.

"Hopefully…"

"Grogg might've gotten away this time," Raiden pointed out with his hands running through his hair. "But it won't always like that. Strength isn't the only thing that runs this world, power without refinement is like a fire. It may grow strong at first, but if nothing's there to feed the fire, then the fire will die out and…"

"Sir, if may I continue?" The shadowed man requested, making Raiden blink a few times.

"Uh, sure," Raiden muttered again his face slightly red. "Thanks for stopping me before I went on a long winded speech… Again…"

"My pleasure, sir," the shadowed man replied. "As for the other two matters, sir, they both come from 'you-know-who'."

"Him, eh?" Raiden said. "Alright, what does the windbag want?"

"The two messages he sent are as followed," the shadowed man answered. "The first is that he's sending someone to discuss some business deals that he couldn't discuss over the phone – But he did say that he'd rather deal with you than with Grogg. They should be here tomorrow morning."

"How nice to know," Raiden grumbled. "What's the other message?"

"Well sir, he wants one of your employees to go to a certain location this evening," the shadowed man responded as he flipped the rest of the papers on the clipboard. "One of his contacts hasn't been keeping up with communications, and the contact was supposed to deliver something two days ago, but nothing."

"And let me hazard a guess," Raiden sighed as he twirled some of his golden hair around one of his fingers. "He wants me to send someone to investigate?"

"As well as retrieve the goods that were promised," the shadowed man added. "He e-mailed the information that we need, but he requested that only you, myself, and whoever was chosen to perform this request be privy to the information. He'd rather keep this situation under wraps, as he said."

"If that's the case," Raiden replied with a yawn. "How would you feel about earning a little extra green this month?"

The large shadowed man merely pushed up his sunglasses a few times before he crossed his arms, "I could always use some time away from the office. If you give me next week off as well, then I suppose I could do this job on my way to the grocery store tonight."

"Sure, whatever," Raiden sighed loudly with a wave of his hand. "I don't care if you take a week off or not, not like we're getting anything productive done. Until we can actually get Grogg to listen, we're basically at the beck and call of our benefactors."

"I apologize for that," the shadowed man replied. "Still, I can't believe that he would break the BackDraft Corps in half for such a mundane reason…"

"… And yet, I'm stuck will all the crap," Raiden moaned loudly as he slammed his head into the desk with a loud slam. "You mind leaving me alone for a while? I'd like a chance to gather my thoughts. I promise you that if you're successful in getting whatever our benefactor wanted tonight, you'll get your vacation."

"I will not fail, sir," The shadowed man answered as he closed the door in front of him.

As soon as the door was closed, Raiden lifted his head back and sat back into his seat. "At least there's someone else who's competent around here besides me, makes me glad that I paid for his plane ticket from Las Vegas."

**TTTTTTTTT**

"Good to hear that you're up and about, Kuroi!"

Kuroi couldn't help but chuckle sheepishly at the loud booming voice on the other side of the phone he was using. He was pretty sure that almost everyone in the lobby could hear the voice on the phone, "Um, I-Irving, p-please don't y-yell in the phone."

"Don't worry about the little things Kuroi, you need to learn to relax! You're barely even twenty, you've got your youth and you've gotta chill out! Whahahahaha!"

Pushing up his glasses, Kuroi lifted his hand up to the phone in an attempt to drown out the sound, "Um, I-Irving, I… I need y-you to be s-s-serious f-f-for a moment… P-Please?"

"Hmm? Why? What's the matter?"

"I… I think t-there's a B-Baku at the h-hospital," Kuroi answered back into the phone.

For a moment, there was silence over the phone.

"I-Irving?" Kuroi muttered into the phone. "Is… Is everything a-alright?"

"A Baku, eh?" Irving replied rather quietly, which was actually odd considering the fact that this was Irving. "What makes you say that?"

"W-Well," Kuroi stumbled about in his response, and turned his gaze away from the phone as if Irving was there in person. "F-First, I was a l-little surprised that I was in a h-h-h-hospital… B-But, an-anyway, there was a young kid s-screaming in the r-r-room next door. It was l-like he was h-having a nightmare…

"But, I m-managed to see that the k-k-kid had some sort of w-weird mark on his f-f-forehead."

"… Kuroi, before you get too involved in this sort of thing," Irving spoke out. "Let me remind you that you just took a beating from last night. You're not at a hundred percent at the moment. Hardin's out to meet with our police contact, Taiga's… Somewhere in the city, and I'm trying to get some rest before I go out on my daily patrol…

"I don't want you to push yourself with this sort of thing. I can leave both Hardin and Taiga a message to get over to your location as soon as possible, but I don't want you to engage this case."

"… A-Are you okay sir?" Kuroi asked with a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

"A little tired," Irving answered. "But other than that, I'm fine. Why?"

"Um, u-usually, you'd g-give me a s-s-speech about how in-injustice cannot be tolerated," Kuroi answered. "N-No matter how big or how s-s-small…"

"Whahahaha! I see!" Irving laughed loudly from the phone, making the small young man pull the phone from his ear. "Indeed, normally I would, but unfortunately, I would prefer not to see my comrades get hurt any more. Justice is good my friend, but nothing is worth seeing someone I care for get hurt. 

"Now, I'd like for you take it easy Kuroi. And I'd prefer that you didn't risk injuring yourself any further… At least not today. So, just take it easy today and I'll try to get Taiga down there as soon as possible. If I can't, then I'll be there myself."

"N-Now wait a m-minute," Kuroi yelped into the phone. "It's… It's just a Baku r-right? I should b-b-be able to han-handle something like that."

"… Heh, looks like you're not backing down," Irving chuckled over the phone. "Alright, fine. I'll tell you about some of the reports that we've been getting in. But I still don't want you to investigate this while you're in your current condition."

"A-And you don't want me to get hu-hurt from this Ba-Baku?" Kuroi questioned.

"Not fully," Irving answered back. "This is actually Taiga's case."

A shiver ran down Kuroi's spine when heard that. "Um…"

"Here's the lowdown," Irving continued, unaware of what Kuroi was doing. "We've been getting reports from doctors from different hospitals that several patients, especially younger ones, have been having nightmares. Normally, this wouldn't warrant concern, but according to the Shadows that were working there that each of the nightmare victims had weird markings on their foreheads.

"When Taiga investigated, it turned out that it seemed that a Baku was responsible. But that would be impossible, there were too many coinciding factors – There were only reports from hospitals, the victims were young, and there were a lot of cases at the same time.

"That's all I can really say about this case. Now, I'll try to get Taiga down there as soon as possible, you can fill Taiga in on any details you uncover. Till then, be good and be happy."

And just like that, the phone went dead with Irving hanging up. Kuroi lowered his head slightly, his dark hair covering his eyes. "… I… I need to g-g-get my stuff…"

Kuroi sighed to himself as he walked towards the patient's wing of the hospital, he was the smallest of the New York City Shadowchasers, and despite the fact that he'd been on the beat for about two years now, he was still the youngest member of the group. As Irving had said over the phone, Kuroi was barely even twenty years old.

And after all the training that he had gone through, as well as dealing with several Shadowkind in his two years, Kuroi still couldn't really speak for himself. It was one of his bad habits that he still had before he was a Shadowchaser and…

Kuroi shook his head. '_No, I'm a di-different person than I was b-back then… I can't b-be a burden to the others… I… I can do this! E-Even if T-T-Taiga gets mad at me!'_

With a fire now lit in his heart, Kuroi quickly dashed towards the patient's wing of the hospital.

**TTTTTTT**

A few minutes later, Kuroi was back in his room, and fitted his vest back over his small frame, the pockets now filled and closed off. '_Alright… N-Now, let's see. I should t-try to find this Baku… But… But…'_

Kuroi reached into one of the inner pockets of his vest and pulled out a rather bulky book and opened it up. He flipped through the pages of the book a few times, "Um… B-Baku, Baku… Ah! Here it is…"

The book was a small handheld encyclopedia of Shadowkind, a little something to help Kuroi study the various types. On the current page that had Baku written at the top of it, Kuroi's eyes were drawn to the picture and the information that he had written into it.

Baku were Japanese based Shadowkind, known to simply be able to devour both dreams and nightmares of anyone. Baku were depicted to resemble that of tapirs with ghostly features that allowed them to sneak into buildings to devour people's dreams, usually undetected by the residents.

But there was one thing that troubled Kuroi as he read the information…

"Baku aren't s-s-sentient," Kuroi muttered to himself as he sat down on the bed, keeping his attention at the book in his hands. "T-They are essentially l-like animals. It… It could b-be a wild one, but Ba-Baku aren't native to New York… The-they're Japanese."

Kuroi sighed as he closed the book, his head lowered slightly. '_And why wouldn't Irving let me handle this? According to the information, Baku are usually docile creatures, not too much of a threat. I still can't let a Baku go around this hospital eating dreams though…'_

Maybe he was just imaging things about this. What would a Baku be doing in a hospital in the first…

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

Kuroi slipped off the bed when he heard that newest scream, and he fell face first into the clean floor. "Ow!"

Pushing himself off of the floor, Kuroi looked to the door to see several nurses and doctors running through the hall outside the door he was at. If he had to guess, Kuroi would've figured that another person was screaming in a nearby room.

But the young Shadowchaser's attention was drawn elsewhere, for weaving between the legs of the passing-by medical staff was what appeared to be a small tapir-like creature with bushy dark hair that covered the body save for its trunk and face. The creature didn't have any back legs, but rather had a mist-like lower body that allowed the small creature an enhanced mobility that would allow it to go past the oncoming medical staff.

Kuroi's eyes widened behind his glasses as he watched the Baku go past the doorframe and medical staff, "T-There it is!"

And just like that, Kuroi pushed himself off the ground and began to chase after the Baku, trying to make sure that he wouldn't get caught running through a hospital.

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 10:47 a.m._

The sun shone down on the roof of the hospital, a rather chilly breeze billowed through the bed sheets that were pinned up to dry in the sun and wind. From the large doors that led from the inside of the building, the small Baku flew onto the roof, and looked around the sheet covered area.

"Over here, darling…"

The Baku's ears perked up, and immediately floated towards some of the sheets that were farthest away from the door. From behind the sheets stepped a tall and lean figure, which allowed the Baku to float towards and rub up against the figure's legs. "I hope you had a good meal, now let's see what sort of dreams you've gotten…"

The figure in question was actually a lean-figured woman, with fair skin and dressed in what appeared to be a black sun dress and red jacket. She had long black hair that had two long bangs that had a pair of bells tied into them and around her neck was a weird pendant that had the Japanese symbol for 'dream' written on it.

However, through the eyes of an Aware, one would see that the woman's eyes were a bright yellow, she had a horn on her forehead with several weird markings on her face.

The woman knelt down and gingerly lifted up the small Baku in her arms, smirking as she held the tapir-like Shadowkind close to the pendant around her neck. "Oh my, someone got their fill, now didn't they?"

As the Baku touched the pendant, the small ghostly tapir disappeared into a mist that flowed into the pendant, making it glow slightly. "Hmm, an interesting fill, I suppose I should try to head to the next…"

The woman would've continued, only to realize that she wasn't alone on the roof any more, in fact, there seemed to be some little…

Girl?

Guy?

It was a person with long dark hair, small glasses and a few bandages covering his/her body standing in front of the door trying to catch his/her breath. "I… I… H-Hate stairs…"

The mysterious woman raised an eyebrow at the short… Person who stood at the door. "Are you lost, little one?"

Kuroi lifted his head up towards the mysterious woman took a deep breath before he spoke out, "… T-That Baku, I-I saw it go s-straight towards you."

The woman placed a hand on her hip and smirked devilishly, "Oh? Baku? What in the world is that?"

Kuroi sighed as he reached for the bandage on his face, and immediately he pulled it off. He winced for a second at the taunt skin but quickly put the pain out of his head as he pointed towards the mark on his face. "I… I know what a B-B-B-B-Baku is. And, y-you're an oni, r-r-right?"

With a catty smile appearing on her face, the oni woman chuckled slightly as she brought a finger to her lips. "I was wondering how long it would be till a Shadowchaser confronted me. Although, I expected someone who was a bit bigger and on the manlier gender – I didn't even know they allowed little girls into their ranks."

"Um, I… I'm a g-g-g-guy," Kuroi coughed out, his face a little red from being mistaken as a girl… Not that the mix up didn't happen before.

The oni woman stared blankly at Kuroi for a few seconds before she regained her composure, "Riiiiight, I knew that. You obviously don't know how to take an insult right."

"Um, in any case," Kuroi coughed out.

"Right," The oni woman answered back. "So, you saw my pet, huh? Like I said, I was wondering when I'd have to deal with a Shadowchaser. So, how long have you been trailing me?"

"W-What?" Kuroi questioned.

"Oh come on," The oni woman sighed with a wave of her hand. "It can't just be coincidence that a Shadowchaser confronts me here of all places… Right?"

Kuroi looked to the side, his face noticeably redder. "Um, ac-actually, I was here b-b-because I-I got injured. S-So, I just h-happened on your Ba-Baku who was t-t-taking a few people's d-d-dreams."

"… Son of a bitch," The oni woman cussed under her breath. "Well, whatever. So, what are you going to do? In fact, are you even suspecting me of a crime?"

"Um, w-well," Kuroi stumbled with his words, trying to muster up the fire of determination he had earlier. "Y-Yes! There have b-been several reports of a Baku going around hospitals d-d-devouring dreams and… And I j-j-just saw that Baku right up to y-y-you and d-disappear into t-that pendant around your neck."

The oni woman sighed loudly as she rubbed the back of her head, "So, you saw that too, huh? Humph, this day just keeps getting better and better."

"Uh, y-yeah," Kuroi chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, wincing slightly at the touch of the bandages. "Um, in any case, I… I'll need to ask you some q-q-q-questions."

"Like hell I'll come with some stuttering Shadowchaser," The oni woman replied as she slowly walked towards the door. "Now, either get out of my way, or I'll force you out of the way."

However, Kuroi didn't move an inch. "N-No! As a S-S-Shadowchaser of New York C-C-City, I can't l-let you j-just walk away! N-Not now!"

The oni woman smirked as she lifted up the pedant in her hands, "If that's how you want it. I guess that just leaves one option then."

The pendant in the oni woman's hands began to glow brightly, and a powerful surge of electricity began to form the pendant and into her hand. As the oni woman released the pendant, the electrical energy grew fiercer by the second, "Quite an interesting little toy I got here, allows me to boost my natural magical abilities… And it's so easy to charge."

With a flick of her hand, the oni woman sent the powerful blast of electricity towards Kuroi who lifted his arms up into the air.

"What the heck are you trying to do?" the oni woman snickered as the electricity slammed into Kuroi's hands.

However, instead of covering Kuroi's body, the electricity just scattered away from Kuroi's gloved hands and flew harmlessly through the wind. Kuroi sighed with relief as he lowered his arms, "T-That was close…"

"What in the?" The oni woman questioned as she blinked a few times at the short Shadowchaser. "How in the hell did you do that? You're not one of those Shadowchasers that actually knows how to use magic, are you?"

"N-No," Kuroi panted as he wiped off some sweat from his brow. With his hands held up, Kuroi revealed the runes that were sewed into the fabric. "I… I don't have the w-w-will to learn s-s-spells, b-but, I do h-happen to have a f-f-friend that dabbles in an-anti-magic items. S-She does tend to t-t-test them out on me th-though…

"And these g-g-g-gloves work like a c-c-charm, they can dispel magic…"

Even though he had a little confidence showing on his face, in Kuroi's head however, there was one little fact that he knew about those gloves. '_They… They only have a l-limited amount of use to t-t-them. A-And my s-s-sword's back at the base, not r-right to have weapons in a h-hospital…'_

"Feh, that's annoying," the oni woman growled under her breath. "Fine, if that's the case… I could just try to force my way through. But then again, I'd rather not face any more tricks that you might have, who knows, maybe you've got some freaky strength in that little body of yours."

"Hehee," Kuroi chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"So, we'll settle this how you Shadowchasers usually do," The oni woman sighed loudly with a shrug of her shoulders. "As much as I detest it, I don't really have a choice – We'll duel. I win, you let me go on my way. You win, well, I'll leave that to you.

"Deal?"

"Um… Y-Yes!" Kuroi yelped as he began to search his pockets.

"Good," the oni woman replied as she pulled the pendant from her neck and held it over her left arm. The pendant glowed brightly before it began to meld onto her arm, forming into an older duel disk that was made out of the same ancient material that the pendant was. On the duel disk's monster card zones were several marks that depicted the Japanese symbols for fire, water, wind, earth and steel.

"Uh, w-w-w-what's your n-name?" Kuroi questioned as he pulled out a small, disk shaped device from his vest's inner pockets.

"Normally, a man introduces himself first," the oni woman scoffed as she reached into her jacket and pulled out a deck of cards that she immediately slipped into the transformed artifact. "… And since you said you're a guy that means that you should give your name first."

Kuroi's face lit up red, making him cough slightly, "R-R-Right… Um, Hi-Hitsuji K-Kuroi, I g-g-guess."

"Yeesh, haven't you ever talked to a beautiful woman before?" the oni woman joked as she raised her hand up to her face. "Your stuttering is really getting annoying."

"T-T-This is just h-how I talk," Kuroi whispered to himself.

"Whatever," the oni woman growled under her breath. "You're such a pain. In any case, my name is Suzuka, and as you no doubt can tell, I'm an oni. But in any case, let's just hurry this up shall we?" (SLP: 8000)

"I… I can't give up!" Kuroi yelped as he snapped the disk device on his wrist. Instantly the machine wrapped around his wrist and began to unfold to turn into a sleek duel disk. And quickly, Kuroi fitted a deck of cards into the machine, allowing the device to shuffle the cards. "A-After what y-you've done, I-I won't let you g-g-get away!" (KLP: 8000)

"Even when you're trying to sound brave, you sound like a wimp," Suzuka sighed as she plucked the top five cards from her deck while Kuroi did the same. However, without missing a beat, the oni woman pulled off the top card from her deck. "And in keeping in the spirit of you being a gentleman, I'll start us off this duel."

Looking at the cards on her field, Suzuka smirked as she fitted two cards into her duel disk, making them appear in front of her. "And to start off, I'll place two cards face down, and I'll set one monster face down as well."

A horizontal monster appeared in front of the young oni woman, allowing her some shielding. "Not the most exciting opening, but then again, you're not the most exciting opponent."

Kuroi lowered his head slightly when he heard that, "S-S-Sorry a-about that… B-But it's still m-my turn!"

With his head lifted up, Kuroi quickly pulled off the top card from his deck and nodded at the card he drew. "I-I play the s-spell card – Stray Lambs!"

Two clouds of smoke popped in front of Kuroi, immediately forming into a small pair of round sheep – one with light pink fur and the other with blue (0/0 x2). Both sheep seemed to bee sleeping soundly.

"You start off with tokens on the first turn?" Suzuka questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Yeesh, that's just pathetic."

"I… I then s-s-set one monster f-f-face down," Kuroi announced, trying his best to ignore Suzuka's insult. "A-And I set one c-card face down. T-Turn end!"

The oni woman sighed loudly as she slowly drew from the top of her deck, "Honestly? That's it? I would've expected something a little bit flashier from a Shadowchaser."

"W-Well, I'm n-not as f-flashy as my c-c-c-comrades," Kuroi muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Then allow me to fill in that gap for this duel," Suzuka announced as she drew from the top of her deck. "First, I'll flip up my face down monster – the cute critter known as Sangan!"

The face down card on Suzuka's field flipped up, instantly allowing a familiar three-eyed fiend to pop onto the field, cackling loudly as it waved its arms about in the air (1000/600). "But don't get too cozy with this little guy. I activate my spell card – Mystik Wok, so now I can sacrifice my Sangan to gain a thousand life points."

The small critter popped into a cloud of smoke that flew into Suzuka's body, making the oni smirk as she reached for her deck. "And thus, I can now activate Sangan's effect, allowing me to add a monster with low attack points from my deck. And I'll go with this one." (SLP: 9000)

Suzuka turned the card around to reveal a blue bordered card that depicted a beautiful woman on the card's picture. Kuroi tilted his head to the head, "A… A ritual monster?"

"Yeah," Suzuka replied as she slipped the card she pulled into her hand and pulled another one from the three card hand. "But I won't use her yet, instead I'll summon this – Element Doom in attack mode!"

A loud screech echoed through the air, instantly allowing a large demon with a pair of large bat wings, a serpent's tail, wild white hair and bronze scaled skin. The large demon roared loudly as it slammed its hands into the roof (1500/1200). "I know, not the best monster around now-a-days, but I have a way around that. I activate the continuous spell card – Element Infection!"

A spell card appeared in front of Suzuka, revealing the Elemental Doom attacking a surprised Kuriboh with green fur. "Now, thanks to this card I can select one monster on your field and treat its attribute as one of the attributes listed on the Element monster I have on the field. And since you have earth monsters out on the field, I'll make one of your tokens turn into a wind monster!"

A green aura popped around the pink furred sheep token, transforming its fur into a light shade of green. "And with that monster as a wind monster, my monster can attack multiple times! And thanks to your earth attribute token, he can null any effects of monsters he destroys!

"Doom! Attack his face down monster!"

The large demon flew into the air and immediately dove down towards the face down monster, slamming its feet into the face down monster, shattering the card into millions of shards.

Kuroi gulped as he fitted the destroyed card into his graveyard, "S-S-Sorry about that… Black Cat of Ill Omen."

"That card would've allowed you to add a trap from your deck to the top of your deck," Suzuka chuckled to herself as she shook her head. "Too bad. In any case, I can still attack! Element Doom! Destroy the Earth attributed token!"

The Element Doom spun around and slammed its tail into the token, shattering it into millions of tufts of fur. "Now, I could do more damage, but I'd rather just end my turn."

The demon flew back to Suzuka's field, however as soon as it landed on the ground, three spotlights popped up at the Element Doom's side, allowing three clouds of smoke to pop up at the field. As the smoke disappeared, Suzuka's eyes widened at the sight of what now danced about her field…

"_GIMME AN O!"_

"_GIMME A J!"_

"_GIMME AN AMA!"_

"_What's that spell?"_

"_OJAMA!"_

The three creatures that had just wasted the bugbear's time were all different, one was yellow skinned with long eyestalks, another was green with a large eye, and the third was a black skinned beast with a bulbous nose. The only thing that really made the three similar were the sparkling red bikini briefs they wore (0/1000 x3).

"T-These things…" Suzuka gagged at the sight of the monsters.

"O-Ojama Trio!" Kuroi yelped as he threw his arm to the side. "Y-You get three O-Ojama Tokens!"

"That was your face down card?" Suzuka questioned raising an eyebrow. "Yeesh, if that was the case, then I could've done so much more!"

"Um, s-s-sorry," Kuroi mumbled as he slowly drew from the top of his deck. "M-My turn!"

Kuroi looked at the card he just drew and nodded, "Um, I… I play D-Dark World Dealings, n-now we both d-draw…"

"One card and then discard one card from our hands," Suzuka interrupted as he pulled off the top card from her deck and quickly pulled another card from her hand that she discarded immediately. "I know what the card does, I've got a copy of it in my deck."

Kuroi's face flushed slightly as he lifted up one of the cards in his hand and fitted it into his graveyard slot. However, as soon as the short Shadowchaser tucked the card away, two clouds of smoke popped out in front of him. "Um, t-the monster I discarded was D-D-Dandylion. W-When sent to the g-graveyard, I can s-special summon two F-F-Fluff tokens to m-my side of the field!"

The two clouds of smoke began to dissipate, revealing a pair of cute fluffy spores with large eyes (0/0 x2).

"… I'm starting to see something here," Suzuka admitted with a raised eyebrow. "So many tokens…"

"Y-Yes," Kuroi admitted as he placed a card onto his duel disk. "N-Next, I summon Parasitic Ticky in a-a-attack mode!"

The roof in front of Kuroi popped open to unleash a large white skinned tick with a large canister of toothpicks strapped to its back.

"And that's just disgusting," Suzuka gagged with her tongue sticking out.

"B-But, for every token out on the field, m-my Ticky's attack and defense are five hundred," Kuroi explained as the parasite began to grow larger and larger with each passing second (0/0 + 3000/3000). "A-And, n-now, Ticky! A-Attack her Element Doom!"

The large tick leapt through the air and immediately threw several toothpicks at the demon, which stabbed into the Element Doom's body. A few moments later, the demon shattered like glass and flew into Suzuka's body. "URK!" (SLP: 7500)

"I… I set one card f-f-face down," Kuroi announced as the card appeared behind his large insect. "A-And I end my turn."

"Humph, alright, I guess you've got some moves there little Shadowchaser," Suzuka admitted as she drew from the top of her deck. "But, it won't be enough against me. I summon Element Saurus in attack mode!"

A loud roar echoed through the air, instantly unleashing a large brown scaled raptor that seemed to hold onto two orbs in its small clawed arms (1500/1200). "Now, since you've already got an earth monster out on the field, he gains his earth ability to negate effects… However, I still have Element Infection out, so, I can choose a monster out on your field and treat it as a Fire monster, and I'll choose your Ticky."

A powerful fiery aura erupted over both the large Tick and the Elemental Saurus, making the large dinosaur roar loudly (1500/1200 + 500). "And I'm not done yet, I activate the spell card – Elemental Pulse! Now, I select my Saurus, and if there are monsters on the field with the same attributes that are listed on it, I can special summon another Element monster from my deck…

"And look at this! There's an EARTH monster and FIRE monster out! So, I'll choose Element Magician!"

A powerful burst of light exploded out on the field in front of Suzuka, and a beautiful blue haired woman dressed in flowing green and tan robes appeared in front of the oni woman (1500/1200). "Now, since you have two wind monsters out, I can use her effect to attack…

"But before that, I'll play another spell card – This one known as Solar Flare Burn!"

A powerful flame erupted on the field, instantly revealing a large spell card in front of Suzuka, this one displaying the Elemental Saurus and a powerful dragon breathing down a powerful torrent of fire down on a Blazing Inpachi. "Now, whenever an element monster destroys a monster, you'll take eight hundred points of damage if that monster's attribute is listed amongst that Element monster's card text."

Kuroi's eyes widened behind his glasses when he heard that.

"If you don't get that, then I'll show you what this mean! Element Magician! Attack his Fluff token!"

The beautiful magician leapt through the air and immediately slammed its foot into the token, shattering the monster into millions of pixels. With one less token out on the field, the Parasitic Ticky began to shrink (3000/3000 – 500/500).

That's when Suzuka's spell card began to glow brightly, instantly sending a powerful flame that washed over Kuroi's body, "AAAAH!" (KLP: 7200)

"And here comes the second one!" Suzuka laughed with a large smirk. "And again, it's the other Fluff Token!"

The magician spun around and immediately delivered a second powerful kick that shattered the small weed token monster, and like with the stray lamb token's destruction, the Ticky began to shrink once more (2500/2500 – 500/500). And for a second time, Suzuka's spell card unleashed a powerful flame that coursed over Kuroi's body, making him cry out in pain. "Argh!" (KLP: 6400)

"And now, to squash that bug of yours," Suzuka sighed as she pushed a button on her duel disk, making a powerful aura creep over her large dinosaur. "And to make sure that I get to destroy it, I play my face down Rush Recklessly! So my Saurus gains seven hundred extra attack points!"

The large elemental dinosaur charged over (2000/1200 + 700/0) the field and immediately slammed its tail into the large Ticky, smashing the monster into the roof. (KLP: 5700)

"And remember," Suzuka mused with her hands to her lips as her Solar Flare Burn card began to glow brighter. "Thanks to my Elemental Infection, your Ticky was considered a fire monster, so you take more damage thanks to my Solar Flare Burn!"

Kuroi gulped at the sight of his powerful monster squashed into the roof, and his loud audible gulp didn't help at all. That's when the flames crashed into his body, sending Kuroi skidding back. When the flames resided, Kuroi fell to his knee and allowed his hair to fall in front of his face. "Ah… Ah…" (KLP: 4900)

"Humph," Suzuka sighed with a roll of her eyes. "Please tell me that's not the best you've got."

"I… I…" Kuroi mumbled as he struggled to get to his feet. '_I-Irving was right… I… I shouldn't have p-p-pursued this case…'_

"Yeesh, this is pathetic," Suzuka grumbled under her breath. "How could my plans get stopped by someone like you?"

"P-Plans?" Kuroi questioned, pushing up his glasses at the same time. "W-What are you talking a-about?"

"Might as well tell you," Suzuka chuckled as she flicked some hair from her face. "Its not like you're going to be able stop me. Although, I'm pretty sure I think you know what I'm doing. So, let's hear what you think."

"Uh, w-well," Kuroi muttered, a little surprised at being put on the spot. "T-Taking into ac-account t-that you've g-got a pendant t-t-that seems to have a l-lot of energy, as well as su-summoning a B-Baku. S-So… I'd have to g-g-guess that maybe it gains p-power from dreams?"

"Indeed," Suzuka answered with a smirk. "But it's not my reason for doing what I'm doing. Sure, it gains power by putting the dreams of people into it, via Baku. But, that's only a fringe benefit.

"You see, dreams are a curse to everyone."

"Huh?" Kuroi questioned, blinking a few times.

"I'm not surprised you respond that way," Suzuka said with her eyes closed. "Dreams, they give hope to people, and they give them a reason to continue onwards. But they aren't reality. Let's face it, only a handful of people can actually achieve their dream in this cruel world, and even if they do manage to achieve it, who knows how many other people's dreams they trampled on.

"To fulfill dreams, people need to sacrifice a lot of things, and some people can't even accomplish their dreams. Its better to not dream than to dream the impossible, a lot of people in these hospitals who are diagnosed as terminal are only brought great sadness when they dream of getting better, they consciously know that they can never get better."

"S-So, you're leaving only nightmares?" Kuroi questioned, his head lowered slightly to allow his hair to overshadow his eyes.

"This world is a nightmare," Suzuka retorted with a smirk on her face. "If people only have nightmares, they get used to how harsh reality is, dreams can only distort people's visions and make them weak to this world. I'm doing people a great deed by having my Baku devour their dreams to power this little pendant. Dreams are useless."

"You're wrong."'

Suzuka blinked when she heard that, and when she looked past the tokens and the element monsters, the young oni woman looked at the small Shadowchaser who stood before her. Slowly, Kuroi lifted his head up, revealing his sharp eyes behind his glasses, "Yes, reality is harsh, and may be covered in darkness… But dreams are the fuel that keeps us going, whether it's a dream to get better, a dream to become stronger to face the day, or even a dream to get past our fears.

"You're entitled to your opinion, but don't assume that everyone thinks dreams can only hurt people!

"DRAW!"

Kuroi snapped off the top card from his deck and nodded at the card he just drew, "This turn, I discard one card from my hand, in order to special summon the Tricky from my hand!"

Quickly fitting the card into his duel disk, a vortex of light appeared in front of the short Shadowchaser, immediately allowing a tall and sleek jester to appear before him with a large question mark on its masked face with a large and long cap covering its back (2000/1200).

"Is that all?" Suzuka questioned as she raised an eyebrow. "I can see that you're still going on with that token theme, what are you going to do next? Play that useless spell that goes with this clown?"

"I sacrifice both of my monsters!" Kuroi yelled as the Tricky and his remaining Fluff token shattered into pixels that began to fly up into the air. "In order to summon Darklord Asmodeus!"

Several feathers began to float down from the sky, immediately allowing a tall and daunting angelic creature to float down to the ground. With two powerful black feathered wings, the dark armored fallen angel landed on the ground with his arms crossed (3000/2500).

"What in the…?" Suzuka questioned as the fallen angel lifted his hand up into the air, summoning all of the floating feathers up into his hand.

"Asmodeus! Destroy her Saurus!" Kuroi roared as the fallen angel immediately threw its lifted hand towards the Elemental Dinosaur, sending the feathers through the air and sliced through the large dinosaur's body.

For a few moments, the dinosaur just stood there until several cuts began to appear on its body, instantly shattering the powerful beast into millions of shards. Suzuka stepped back with her eyes widened, '_Where the hell did that come from?'_ (SLP: 6000)

"Turn end," Kuroi announced with his arms crossed.

"So, I see you finally accessed that testosterone," Suzuka sighed with a shake of her head while she drew from the top of her deck. "In all honesty, I was wondering if you were holding back… Now I know for sure! Time to bust out the big guns!

"And to start off, I play Spellbook in the Pot, now both of us get to draw three cards!"

Kuroi didn't say a word as he slowly plucked off the top three cards from his deck, however, Suzuka wasn't the same, "Oh my, I guess its time for you to face the true power of this deck! First, I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands!"

From Suzuka's right, a large statue broke through the roof, this one depicting a large silver man with an almost countless amount of hands covering its body and head (1400/1000). "This little guy's hard to look at, but he's useful in this kind of deck to say the least. Cause now I can add a ritual monster or ritual spell from my deck.

"I'll go for the latter… And then, I'll play it!"

Suzuka immediately slipped the card into her duel disk allowing a bright light to emerge over her field, two of the Ojama Tokens that were on her field looked at each other before they were drawn into the light. "Doriado's Blessing! I only need three stars to summon my ritual monster, but since you granted me a few tokens, I don't see the need to waste any of my monsters."

As soon as the two Ojama Tokens disappeared into the light, the light began to slowly float down to the roof, and immediately it began to form into a beautiful blonde haired woman dressed in light blue robes and a weird hat that looked to be fashioned to have a star-like emblem in the front (1200/1400). The young woman clasped her hands together and began to pray under her breath as a powerful aura surged out of her body. "Now, do you know what my Elemental Mistress Doriado can do?"

Kuroi didn't say anything, he just kept his glare set at Suzuka, who just sighed, "Great, from stuttering to quiet. You certainly make this duel confusing. In any case, thanks to my Elemental Mistress, she's considered a Fire, Water, Earth and Wind monster in addition to a Light monster.

"Meaning I can play my trap card – Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zhan!"

Doriado lifted her hands up into the air, creating a powerful flame, a small orb of water, several small rocks and a small twister of air around her hands. "This trap can only be activated when I have a Fire, Water, Earth and Wind monster out on the field – And thanks to Doriado's presence, I'm considered to have all four of those attributes on my field!

"So, I can choose one of four effects, and I think I'll go with the effect of destroying all your monsters!"

Doriado threw her hands forward, sending a powerful surge of energy that flew through the air and crashed into Asmodeus' body. The force made the angel roar loudly before it shattered into millions of black feathers.

"Hmm, so much for your big bad monster," Suzuka snickered as she ran a hand over the remaining cards she held.

"… Unfortunate for you maybe," Kuroi replied as he pushed up his small glasses. "You just activated Asmodeus' effect!"

The large amount of feathers began to float through the air, immediately combining with each other to form into a pair of large figures. Kuroi lifted his hand up into the air and snapped his fingers, which caused the feathers to scatter to reveal two versions of Asmodeus – One that was tall and lean (1800/1300) and one that short and muscular (1200/1200), both of which had a single wing coming from their backs. "When destroyed, Asmodeus leaves me an Asmo Token and a Deus token. And they themselves have effects – Asmo can't be destroyed by card effects and Deus can't be destroyed in battle!"

"But you'll still take battle damage," Suzuka chuckled as she waved her hand. "Don't forget, my Doriado counts as all four elements, so my Element Magician still has access to her wind abilities. So, while I can't destroy your Deus Token in battle, I can still attack it!

"Element Magician!"

The blue haired beauty leapt into the air, and immediately dropped towards the muscular version of the Deus Token. The muscular fallen angel quickly brought its arms up and caught the powerful kick that the Element Magician delivered, making the fallen angel drop to its knees. (KLP: 4600)

"And now, for the second attack!" Suzuka laughed loudly as the Element Magician spun around and delivered another kick that made the angel skid back into Kuroi's body, making him stagger backwards. (KLP: 4300)

"That… That all you got?" Kuroi questioned.

"You wish," Suzuka sighed, a little annoyed that she was now dealing with her stuttering opponent once more. "I set two cards face down, and then I'm done."

The two set cards appeared in front of the oni woman, allowing her to smirk wildly. "So, are you done with the fake macho act?"

"Who says it's fake?" Kuroi replied as he slowly drew from the top of his deck. "I summon Sir Rams-Borg in attack mode!"

A powerful flame erupted over the field, and on the field now stood a new monster – a small young warrior covered with red armor that was a few sizes too big on the young paled skinned warrior. His long black hair flew from his helmet which had a pair of small curved horns that belonged to a ram of sorts. And gripped in the warrior's hands was a large broadsword that the warrior struggled to keep in his hands (1000/500).

"What in the?" Suzuka questioned raising an eyebrow. "He's as puny as you are!"

"N-Not for long!" Kuroi yelped as he threw his arm to the side. "You see, my monster here has the same ability as Parasitic Ticky, meaning he gains five hundred attack points for each token on the field. And there are three out on the field!"

A fiery aura erupted over Sir Rams-Borg, making his small body grow taller and more muscular, allowing him to fill into the armor and lift the broad sword onto his shoulder (1000/500 + 1500/0). Rams-Borg smirked brightly, and his teeth glinted in the sunlight. "Now, Sir Rams-Borg! Attack Doriado!"

The more confident warrior cried out loudly as he leapt through the air, the large broadsword was brought down onto the beautiful blonde haired woman. However, just as the blade was about to strike, a large scarecrow made out of old junk popped from the ground and caught the blade. Suzuka laughed loudly as Sir Ramsborg tried to cut through the scarecrow, "Sorry, but no slice and dice for this knight, not as long as I have my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow out on the field!"

"That's fine," Kuroi replied as he lifted his hand up. "I've still got my Deus Token! And he can't be destroyed in battle!"

As Sir Rams-Borg leapt backwards, the shorter fallen angel token flew across the roof and crashed into Doriado's body sending her flying through the air past Suzuka's head. "Humph!"

"And I've also got Asmo Token as well!" Kuroi continued as he threw his arm up into the air, making the sleeker token fly up into the air and drop downwards. "Attack her Magician!"

The fallen angel token rolled through the air before it slammed both of its feet into the Element Magician's stomach, slamming her into hospital's roof and shattered her into millions of pixels. (SLP: 5700)

"Are you done yet?" Suzuka yawned loudly as she stretched her arms. "I've had better challenges from dealing with my bakus' indigestion problems and…"

"I play the spell card – Token Fourth!" Kuroi interrupted as his spell card appeared in front of him, creating a scene of four familiar sheep tokens exploding like fireworks with a crowd of goblins watching the event. "With this, all tokens on the field are removed!"

The Asmos and Deus tokens, along with the remaining Ojama Token all popped into several clouds of smoke, which made Sir Rams-Borg's body shrink down to it's normal size, making the small knight land on his backside (1000/500).

"Huh, interesting choice, not," Suzuka sighed loudly. "You just made your ace monster weaker. And since it was removed, like how my Doriado was summoned, I don't take damage from your Ojama Token."

"M-Maybe," Kuroi replied as he reached for his deck. "But, thanks to the second effect of Token Fourth, I combine the levels of removed tokens, which combined equals ten. Then for every three levels I can draw one card from my deck. So, that's three new cards!"

Kuroi sighed loudly before he pulled the top three cards from his deck. Fanning the cards in front of his eyes, Kuroi scanned each of the cards before he took two of them and slipped into his duel disk. "Three cards set, turn end!"

"Humph, so, you're still wanting to fight?" Suzuka sighed as she drew the top card from her deck. "Whatever, far be it from me from trying to make sense from you Shadowchasers. Now then, watch a real turn. First, I play the spell card Fulfillment of Contract. So for a measly eight hundred life points I can bring Doriado back!" (SLP: 4900)

In a flash of light, the beautiful Elemental Mistress reappeared on the field, her long white robe billowing over her body (1200/1400). "Next, I'll outfit her with this – Ritual Weapon! So my Elemental Mistress will no longer be so easy to defeat!"

The beautiful Doriado lifted her right hand up into the air, creating a large gold and blue crossbow on her arm, an Egyptian eye carved into the weapon's main body (1200/1400 + 1500/1500). "Now then, to plow through your weak defenses! Manju! Destroy Sir Rams-Borg!"

The large handed monster leapt high into the air, preparing to crash into the scared small armored warrior. However a powerful barrier erupted between the two monsters, forcing Manju back through the air. Kuroi lifted up his hand, revealing that he had pulled one of the cards from the duel disk and that the card itself was Negate Attack. "Not gonna happen!"

"Fine, if that's how you wanna play it," Suzuka sighed, taking one of the last remaining few cards from her hand. I play Doriado's Shielding, which as the name implies can only be equipped to Doriado!"

Holding up her left arm, a powerful shield made out of flames latched onto the Elemental Mistress's body, giving her another weapon to her arsenal. "And I think I'll keep what this equip does a secret for a little bit. Turn end."

"N-Not yet!" Kuroi announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk, making four bright lights appear in front of him. "During your end phase… I play Scapegoat!"

The four lights popped into the four colorful sheep tokens on Kuroi's field, all of them snoozing loudly in defense mode (0/0 x4). Sir Rams-Borg's face lit up at the sight of all four of the tokens and his body began to grow larger and much more muscular (1000/500 + 2000/0).

"Now, it's my turn!" Kuroi announced as he drew once more, his eyes brightening at the card he had in his hand. "And now, I play the continuous spell card, this one called Forked Effect!"

Kuroi's newest spell card emerged behind Sir Rams-Borg, showing a Batteryman AA standing between Fluff tokens that were surging with electricity. "Now, in order to activate this spell, I have to give up fifteen hundred life points." (KLP: 2800)

The fiery aura that was around Sir Rams-Borg began to float around all four of the Sheep Tokens, making their eyes widen and then narrow down at Suzuka, their wool standing on end! "A steep price, but a good trade now that I can give all four of my token monsters now get the same effect as one level three or lower monster on the field… And my Sir Rams-Borg qualifies!"

"So wait… That means…" Suzuka's eyes widened as all four of the sheep tokens 'baaed' very loudly.

"Yeah! All four of my tokens gain two thousand attack points!" Kuroi roared as all four of the sheep tokens landed on the ground, growing larger and larger (0/0 + 2000/0 x4). "All four of them go to attack mode, and now its time for the attack!

Sir Rams-Borg!" Kuroi continued as he snapped his fingers, making the red armored knight dash over the field towards Doriado. "Attack the Elemental Mistress!"

Lifting his sword high into the air, Rams-Borg quickly brought the blade down upon the Elemental Mistress's head. However, Doriado quickly brought her shield covered arm up into the air and caught the blade with her shield, sending several sparks flying up from where the metal had connected with the fiery shield. (SLP: 4600)

"Hate to disappoint you," Suzuka snickered as Doriado pushed Rams-Borg away with her shield. "But thanks to her shield, she can't be destroyed by monsters with the same attribute! So, that makes your big old army useless!"

"Not really," Kuroi announced as he pushed another button on his duel disk. "I play my face down trap card – Token Stampede! Now, all token monsters gain an additional thousand attack points!"

All four of the sheep tokens on Kuroi's field began to glow brighter, and immediately grew larger and larger (2000/0 + 1000/0 x4). Suzuka's eyes widened at the massive sheep tokens.

Kuroi pumped his right fist into the air, "Pink Sheep Token! Take out Manju!"

The large pink wooled sheep tucked into itself and immediately rolled over the field as if it were a large boulder of pink wool. The many handed fairy blinked a few times in confusion before the token rolled over Manju, flattening it into the roof of the hospital. (SLP: 3000)

"Now, Blue, Yellow, and Red Sheep Tokens!" Kuroi continued as the three Sheep Tokens began to spin over the roof before they rolled right towards the surprised Doriado.

The blue token was first to slam into Doriado, making the elemental mistress skid backwards with a yelp. (SLP: 2700)

Then the Red Sheep token took its turn and rammed into Doriado, knocking the wind out of the cute ritual monster. (SLP: 2400)

And finally, the Yellow Sheep Token spun into Doriado, knocking her off her feet and right next to Suzuka's feet. (SLP: 2100)

"Now, for one card set," Kuroi announced as the card appeared behind his monsters. "And that's it for my turn."

"Alright," Suzuka sighed as she drew from the top of her deck. "You've had your fun, but now its time for me to get back in control of this duel. And it starts with this, Emergency Provisions! Now, I'll get rid of my Element Infection and Solar Flare Burn, so, I'll be gaining back all of those life points that you just burned away from me."

Both of her revealed spell cards popped into smoke that wrapped around the oni girl's body, making her smirk wildly. (SLP: 4100)

"Next, I'll set one card face down," Suzuka announced with a large smirk on her face as the card appeared before her. "And that'll be my turn. Feel free to take yours."

Kuroi nodded as he quickly clicked off the top card from his deck…

"And during your stand by phase," Suzuka laughed loudly as her face down card flipped up, creating a large aura of powerful light from the card. "I play my trap card – Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zhan! Now, say goodbye to your army!"

"No!" Kuroi announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "I play my own trap card – Seven Tools of the Bandit!" (KLP: 1800)

Suzuka's eyes widened as the light immediately shattered like glass, surprising both her and Doriado as the shards danced around the roof. Suzuka took a step back with a bead of sweat appearing on the side of her head. '_No! I was going to clear his field and then dash the rest of his life points in my next turn! At least the damage won't be enough to defeat me.'_

"Its time to end this," Kuroi announced as he spun around the card he just drew in his fingers. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon! I choose to destroy Ritual Weapon!"

Once more, Suzuka's eyes widened, this time to the size of dinner plates as the crossbow shattered to the ground (1200/1400). "No!"

"Now, Sheep Tokens – Pink and Blue!" Kuroi announced as both of the empowered tokens curled up into each other and rolled over the hospital rooftop. "Attack Doriado!"

Both of the tokens sped over the roof before they both slammed into Doriado, sending her staggering backwards into Suzuka, knocking them both over. "ACK!" (SLP: 500)

"And now… Sir Rams-Borg!" Kuroi continued as the armored knight slowly walked over the field, his sword dragging along the hospital roof, creating a large amount of sparks from the friction from them. "Finish it!"

Suzuka and Doriado slowly began to push back, crawling away from the oncoming swordsman. Then with a mad dash, Rams-Borg closed the gap between him and the two. And with blinding speed, Sir Rams-Borg brought the sword down on both of them – When the sword connected with them, the sword exploded into a powerful burst of fire that completely engulfed both the Oni and her Ritual monster. (SLP: 0)

When the holographic flames began to disappear, all that was left in its place was Suzuka with several scorch marks and smoke popping from her mouth. Even her eyes seemed to spin around slightly being dazed from the final attack.

Kuroi blinked a few times as he slowly walked over to her, '_W-Wow, I heard that s-s-solid vision was a l-little dangerous, b-b-but to get k-knocked out f-f-from it…'_

Still, Kuroi wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and quickly held up the blue jewel towards Suzuka, making her disappear.

After a few moments, Kuroi lowered his head with some tears in his eyes, "It… It's good t-t-that I s-s-stopped her, b-but… But T-T-Taiga's gonna kill m-m-m-me for t-t-taking this target in."

Rubbing his bruised head, Kuroi slowly began to make his way back to the hospital's inside – Hoping to make a phone call in hopes of stopping the pain that was heading for his future.

Unknown to Kuroi, he was being watched by something that was flying over the roof. At first it seemed to be nothing more than a small bird, but as it slowly came down to the roof to watch Kuroi, the small bird appeared to be made out of metal with a red paint job with gleaming yellow eyes.

The small mechanical bird chirped a few times as it flapped its metallic wings a few times.

TBC

**TTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Element Infection / Continuous Spell / Effect:** While this card is on the field, while you control one "Element" monster on your side of the field, select one monster on your opponent's side of the field. The selected monster becomes one of the Attributes listed in the 'Element' card's description.

**Image:** Element Doom swooping down on a very surprised Kuriboh, whose fur has turned Bright green, like the wind element.

**Doriado's Shielding / Equip Spell / Effect**: Equip only to an "Elemental Mistress Doriado". The selected monster cannot be destroyed in battle with a monster of the same attribute as the equipped monster.

**Image:** Elemental Mistress Doriado holding up a flame shield as a charging Volcanic Doomfire stops dead in its tracks.

**Solar Flare Burn / Continuous Spell / Effect:** Activate this effect only once per turn. When an "Element" monster destroys a monster as a result of battle whose attribute is listed in its effect, deal 800 damage to the opponent.

**Image:** Elemental Dragon and Saurus breathing down a torrent of fire down on Blazing Inpachi

_The preceding three cards were created by MichealDJ45 with his permission _

**Element Pulse / Normal Spell / Effect:** Select one 'Element' monster on your side of the field. If there are monster with the same attributes listed on the monster on the field, special summon one level four or lower 'Element' monster from your deck with a different-type.

**Image:** The Element Doom pulsating

**Sir Rams-Borg / Fire / LV. 3 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 500 / Beast-Warrior/Tuner:** For each Token Monster on the field, increase this card's attack by 500 points. As long as you have at least one 'Sheep Token' or 'Stray Lamb Token' on your side of the field, this card cannot be targeted for an attack.

**Description:** a small young warrior covered with red armor that was a few sizes too big on the young paled skinned warrior. His long black hair flew from his helmet which had a pair of small curved horns that belonged to a ram of sorts. And gripped in the warrior's hands was a large broadsword that the warrior struggled to keep in his hands

**Token Fourth / Normal Spell / Effect:** Remove all tokens on the field. Then combine the level of all tokens removed with this effect, for every three levels of the combined amount, draw one card from your deck.

**Image:** Several sheep tokens exploding into fireworks with several goblins looking up in awe.

**Forked Effect / Continuous Spell / Effect:** Pay 1500 life points to activate this card. When this card is activated, select one level three or lower Effect monster on your side of the field. As long as this card is face up on the field, all Token monsters on your side of the field gain the same effect as the selected monster. When this card is removed from the field, destroy all Token Monsters on the field. When the selected monster is removed from the field, destroy this card.

**Image:** a Batteryman AA standing between Fluff tokens that were surging with electricity

**TTTTTTT**

_**Never underestimate those who are small, a fox that's cornered will become extremely dangerous.**_

_**But when there's a fox trying to avoid trouble, there's always a hound sniffing it out.**_

_**But our third Shadowchaser isn't a hound per-say, but certainly acts like it.**_

_**Next time **_

_**Draw 3**_

_**Tiger Dragon**_


	4. Draw 3: Tiger Dragon

_**What is true courage? **_

_**Is it the absence of fear? Or is it to have enough strength to combat against fear? Or is there something more to this?**_

_**To not have fear is considered to be essentially reckless, and even the strongest of warriors have one fear to them, no matter what they say.**_

_**This Shadowchaser, it's hard to understand what goes through their mind – Almost as if they are a beast, teetering on the edge of man and beast. In all honesty though, considering what this Shadowchaser is, it's not too hard to imagine why they act this way. **_

_**So, I have only one thing to say…**_

_**I hope whoever's being chased by this Shadowchaser, I hope they come back in one piece.**_

_**TTTTTTTT**_

_**Draw 3**_

_**Tiger Dragon**_

_**TTTTTTTT**_

_Time: 11:03 a.m._

_Location: Shadowchaser Headquarters, Brooklyn, Downtown Brooklyn _

The streets of Brooklyn, as with the rest of the city that never sleeps, was filled with people walking the streets, some of them taking an early lunch and others just killing the day. But that's not where the attention is drawn, rather it was one of the boarder houses that lined the street is where this tale begins.

Inside the boarding house's living room, two figures were speaking to each other, although one of them was technically a hologram. "So, Irving, what do I owe the honor of this meeting to?"

The holographic man was tall and sleek, with richly tanned skin, long blonde hair (almost golden), dressed with an outdated, if not classy suit that hugged his figure. He was currently standing up against a desk that was displayed by the hologram as well.

Meanwhile, the person before him was completely different – He was tall, with a very towering build, but that was all you could really see about him. The man was completely covered, dressed in a metal-silver overcoat with the collar flipped up to cover his face and hair, while the top of his head was covered with a large, fancy black fedora. He had black gloves on his hands that had weird runes sewn into them while he wore black cargo pants and military boots. The most defining feature about him though was the fact that on the propped up collar in front of his face had a gleaming golden mark on it. "Now, now Jalal, do I need a reason to contact you?"

"If I was in another profession, perhaps," Jalal replied with a warm smile. "Not that I don't enjoy our little conversations, Irving."

"Hahahaha! Indeed," Irving laughed loudly with his hands on his waist. "Very well, then I'll get right to the point. I've already sent a report detailing about the events of last night to you."

"Ah yes, the raid," Jalal answered back with a nod. "How is Mr. Hitsuji doing?"

"Nothing more than a bonk on the head sir," Irving quickly answered. "Heck, he's already going after a perp as we speak. Little guy's got a big heart of justice beating in his chest. In any case, we may not have been able to catch the boss of their operation, but I think we may have found something almost as good. I think that we may have found someone else to join up our motley crew of Shadowchasers."

"Oh? And what makes you say that?" Jalal questioned raising an eyebrow.

"If you read the report," Irving began to explain with his hand waving next to his covered head. "Then it would say that our raid was a bust – But that was because there was someone else there, someone who took a D-Wheel. As the guy dashed off, one of the big bosses came out of the building looking worse for wear, and since we know that the big boss there is a Shadowkind, then we've got someone who can stand toe-to-toe with him."

"So, you say that this thief may be Shadowchaser material?" Jalal questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe, we won't be sure when and if we can find the guy," Irving stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "And although I've got Hardin on the case, the chances of finding the guy in this city are like finding a needle in a haystack…"

That's when the sound of a door opening echoed through the building, catching both Irving's and Jalal's attentions. "Irving! Are you here?"

"Ah, Hardin!" Irving laughed loudly. "Perfect timing! I got Jalal on the line, could you come up here for a second? I'd like to hear your report on your mission so far."

"Be right there," Hardin called back.

"That reminds me Irving," Jalal stated with his hand to his covered chin. "I had heard that Taiga was back on your team… Any problems so far?"

"Well, other than a bunch of sarcasm," Irving chuckled with his arms raised up in a confused matter. "And the fact that a few bucks are missing in my wallet, there hasn't been a lot of bad stuff going down. Still, I'm thinking about investing in anger management classes, but then again, they didn't help last time."

"Still, if Taiga continues to be a problem," Jalal sighed loudly with a shake of his head.

"I can handle this situation," Irving interrupted with his hand raised upwards. "I've only failed once in my life with an apprentice, but I have no intention of letting another Shadowchaser under my supervision slip through my fingers.

"I can handle this Jalal, I've trained several rookies, and one troublemaker isn't going to get the better of me."

"I trust you will," Jalal stated with warm smile on his face.

It was at that moment that Hardin walked into the living room, still dressed in her overcoat and hat, although, one of her hands was sticking out of the room. Hardin used her other hand to lift her hat up towards Jalal, "Good Morning Mr. Stormbringer."

"There's no need to be so formal with me, Hardin," Jalal stated with a slight bow. "Irving was telling me about this future applicant that you all had the displeasure of meeting last night – Although, I'm not really sure this team in New York could use another troublemaker on it."

"So, what'd ya learn about the guy?" Irving questioned with his arms lifted up slightly.

Hardin tilted her head slightly before she walked a little more into the room, revealing that she was holding onto someone's arm, and dragged a familiar man into the room. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Hmm, hmm, hmm!" Irving laughed to himself as he placed his hands on his hips. "Impressive as always Hardin! It's only been a few hours and you found the guy already? I'm impressed! What do you say Jalal?"

Jalal was silent as he looked at the man who was brought into the headquarters and the man looked directly back at the head of the Shadowchasers, their eyes locked.

"Jalal? Is everything alright?" Irving questioned with a question mark popping over his head.

"Good to see you again Mr. Vayne," Jalal stated calmly with a coy smile.

"Same here Mr. Stormbringer," Hyde replied with his eyes closed. "I just wish it was on better terms than this."

Both Hardin and Irving looked to each other, before they turned to Jalal, "You know each other?"

"This is Hyde Vayne," Jalal explained with his arms crossed. "Although, I'm a little surprised to see that he's here – After all, his previous team thought he was dead."

"Dead?" Both Hardin and Irving yelped out at the same time.

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 11:12 a.m._

_Location: Bronx, The Bronx Zoo_

Comprising over two hundred and fifty acres of the Bronx borough, this zoo was known as one of the largest metropolitan zoos in all of the country – And it certainly was a way to kill a full day with a person's loved ones to see a variety of over four thousand animals with several hundred species of animals for kids of all ages to see.

And there were several outdoor exhibits that would allow patrons to walk past animals in their natural habitats, such as the African Plains exhibit – Lions, zebras, wild dogs, and even giraffes. It was quite a sight that would draw any youth's eyes and creativity.

However, at the moment, a large amount of young kids were drawn to something that wasn't a part of the exhibits.

SWISH!

SWISH!

"Mommy! Mommy! That lady's got a tail!"

"Aw, that's sweet – I didn't know they had the employees dressed up as animals now."

TWITCH! TWITCH!

"Cool! Real cat ears!"

The eyes of all young children were drawn to a single patron who was simply walking through the zoo – Snickering all the way as she listened to the young children speak to their parents and getting brushed off. '_One of the smaller perks of being a Shadowtouched.'_

The young woman in question was a slim girl, barely scraping her early twenties, with a youthful, heart-shaped face that was crowned with shoulder length bright orange (with black bangs) hair that barely brushed up against the black long sleeved button up shirt (although, oddly enough, the left sleeve was replaced with red fabric instead of black) over a white tank-top and tight red pants that hugged her trim legs. Her face had a slightly-cold smile plastered on it with a fang-like tooth that stuck out from the corner of her mouth and she had piercing green eyes that looked like they belonged to a cat of some sort.

Speaking of cat-like features, the girl herself had other features that belonged to a cat – A pair of round and orange tiger ears were poking out of her slightly messy hair and around her thin waist was a striped tiger tail that uncoiled around her waist a few times when she walked in front of a group of children, just to elicit some stares from the group and listen as the adults either brushed them off or scolded them for staring.

It was harmless teasing to ease some boredom.

Still, she couldn't spend all of her time on petty fun such as this, this tiger eared girl did have some other things to deal with.

_A few minutes later…_

The Wild Asia Monorail was one of the Bronx Zoo's most famous attractions, which would allow the visitors to go through forty acres of recreated habitats all in the comfort of a monorail. Visitors would be able to watch the animals live naturally in a fully recreated version of their natural habitat.

The tiger eared girl smirked as she sat down near the back of the monorail – The reason why she was here wasn't because of the fact that she enjoyed the ride, but rather it was for a more business related venture. The girl looked around the monorail to look at the other passengers who were onboard.

There was a small group of school children with their teacher, a young couple who seemed to be more interested in each other than the tour itself, and of course the tour guide. '_He's late, he better not stand me up…'_

"Last call for the Monorail ride!" The tour guide announced as the doors to the monorail came to life. "All those aboard please remain seat and keep your hands away from the doors as they close."

The tiger eared girl snarled slightly as the doors immediately began to close. "Thank you for joining us on the Wild Asia Monorail today please be sure…"

With a loud sigh, the tiger eared girl sat back in her seat and closed her eyes as she ignored the tour guide; she'd heard the woman say the same thing again and again and again…

"Clip the claws of a tiger…"

The tiger eared girl jumped slightly when she realized that there was another person on the monorail, this one an older gentleman dressed in a light blue business suit with a newspaper lifted up to cover his face, however his short, dirty-blonde hair that billowed backwards slightly.

"And you get the teeth," the tiger eared girl snarled back with a glare aimed at the newspaper reading man. "Where the hell were you?"

"I arrived just as the doors were closing," The newspaper reading man answered back. "I would figure that you would get used to me showing up at the last minute. It's my trademark, Taiga."

With a click of her tongue against her teeth, Taiga sat back and leered at the man, "Get off your high horse Frank, I didn't call out here to watch the animals and get freaked out by a poser elf."

The man named Frank lowered his newspaper slightly, revealing his surprisingly handsome and sharp face as well being accompanied by a pair of sharp long ears that showed off his elven features. "Indeed, I would think that you would take some time off after being successful with that raid last night… Oh, sorry, from what I hear, it was a bust."

"You fond of those ears?" Taiga spat with a dull look in her eyes. "Cause if not, I can rip them off for ya in a second."

"Don't get mad at me," Frank retorted as he flipped the pages of his paper. "My intel was completely accurate and you were the only one who I told the information about. Hmm, looks like the Giants are up again in the score."

"Focus Frank," Taiga snarled lowly. "I want information, and you know what I want it on."

"I assume you're referring to the BackDraft Corps," Frank answered holding up the paper once again.

"Of course, if I can land the big fish of these idiots, I'll get a clean slate," Taiga replied with a large smirk on her face. "I don't feel like getting put on probation again, or deal with another one of Irving's speeches. So, what you got for me on them?"

"I've told you most of what the streets know," Frank replied, turning slightly to look out the monorail window to see a few giraffe walking near the fence outside the monorail. "The BackDraft Corps, the current and local street gang of New York City, with countless members lining the streets. The guys who run that elite street organization are two brothers – Raiden and Grogg, last name withheld.

"The gang is most noted for, but is not limited to, stealing vehicles associated with dueling, starting gang wars with other minor gangs until they eliminate the members or assimilate them into the group. And…"

"Blah, blah, blah," Taiga interrupted with a wave of her hand. "I knew that stuff since day one, don't ya have anything new? Like where they're stationed? Or another warehouse of theirs is? Or if they're connected to that other case I'm working on…"

"Is that the one about the kids in the hospital with recurring nightmares and those weird marks on their foreheads?" Frank asked with his head tilted slightly. Taiga nodded and the sneaky elf sighed. "Unfortunately, my resources are almost tapped out when it comes to BackDraft Corps, despite rumors saying that one of the brothers in charge of the group being a complete dumbass, the other one is said to be a genius, with the smarts rivaling that of Einstein's level.

"And he's able to pick up the slack that his brother's left behind – Even if they are quarreling, they're still family and partners, they're not going to lose the other one – Still, they'll fight each other as brothers."

"What the hell are they fighting about anyway?" Taiga asked, lifting her tail up to the side of her head and began to curl it and uncurl it just to kill some time.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Frank replied folding his newspaper into his lap. "It could have to do with something with who was in control of the gang, or the fact that the police and you Shadowchasers have been hounding them lately, but I do not know the answer."

"Yeesh, you gotta have something Frank," Taiga growled her tail twisting slightly. "I need this in order to make sure that I won't get booted out again."

"You ever think about just cleaning up your act?" Frank suggested with a dull look aimed directly at the Shadowtouched Shadowchaser. "Maybe then you'd be able to get on Jalal's good side for once…"

"… I've got my reasons for this," Taiga answered back with her tail drooping slightly.

Frank took a few moments and looked at Taiga, then lowered his head slightly, "Well, I might have one thing for ya."

Taiga lifted her head up with a large smirk appearing on her face, her tail wagging slightly, "Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

"Not so fast, cat," Frank stated with his arms crossed. "This information will not come cheap, you know how I work."

"Fine, how much do you want this time?" Taiga questioned as her tail fell to her seat. "Name your price."

"I'm not fully sure if this information is what you're looking for or not," Frank replied. "So, I won't charge you cash, but instead, I'd like to get payment in another manner."

A large bead of sweat dripped alongside of her head, "I knew you were weird Frank, but you're just not my type."

Frank slapped his forehead, "No, no! I meant something else!"

"You still sound like a crusty old pervert though," Taiga mused with her tongue sticking out slightly. "Alright, what is it you want?"

"I've managed to get enough money to purchase something of interest," Frank explained with his arms cross. "And you're the perfect person to test it out on."

"This still sounds kind of perverted," Taiga snickered rather loudly.

"What's perverted about a D-Wheel?" Frank snarled under his breath.

"… You on a D-Wheel?" Taiga stated flatly. "You got your health insurance updated?"

"That has nothing to do with that," Frank replied. "I finally managed to get my hands on a fine model that suited my tastes, and I figured you could help me break it in."

"So, all you want is a duel?" Taiga questioned with a sly smirk on her face. "No strings attached, win or lose, and I get the information?"

"But of course," Frank replied.

"Fine," Taiga sighed as she sat backwards. "Once this monorail ride ends, we'll hit the streets – Although, you might just regret that challenge."

"I think I already am," Frank muttered under his breath.

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 11:45 a.m._

_Location: Bronx, outside the Bronx Zoo_

Taiga smirked as she ran a finger along her D-Wheel, a custom-made Honda DN-01 with a black paint job with several white stripes at random intervals on it. It was a custom job, and it cost a little bit of cash, but in Taiga's eyes, it was all worth it.

"So," Taiga stated as she reached into the seat compartment and pulled out a yellow helmet, which also had a pair of cat ear protrusions atop of it. "Where's your D-Wheel, Frank? I'd love to see what kind of…"

However, when Taiga turned around to speak to Frank, she realized that he was no where to be seen. He was just behind her a moment ago…

It didn't take long for Taiga to find out where Frank had gone, for a few seconds later another D-Wheel drove up alongside Taiga's – This one's design was a little bit harder to discern, since it was styled to resemble that of a metallic blue Japanese dragon with several Japanese symbols embroidered on them. But that wasn't the strangest thing about the motorcycle duel machine – it was the rider.

Taiga was able to tell that it was Frank who was riding it, but he must've changed his clothes when he went to get his D-Wheel because the older elf had discarded his regular blue suit. He was now dressed in a blue hooded vest with matching baggy pants, as well as fishnet sleeves and socks and had some wooden sandals at the bottom of his feet. And on his chest was a metallic face that looked like it was modeled after some sort of oni of sorts, with a pair of horns atop of it.

With her eye twitching slightly, Taiga slowly lifted her helmet up. "… Frank, what the hell are you wearing?"

Frank didn't say a word as he dismounted his D-Wheel. But that changed when he smirked wildly and threw his thumb towards his chest, "I see that you are in awe of my new persona!"

"What the hell happened when I was on probation?" Taiga questioned with a large bead of sweat appearing on the side of her head. "Did you fall on your head again?"

"No!" Frank laughed loudly with his arms crossed over the oni face he had over his chest. "As I have stated, I have adopted a new persona while you were on your little probation retreat – Although, even I must admit that I was surprised when I decided to adopt this new style.

"Still, when you work with people long enough, you begin to adopt their habits and learn what they know…"

"So let me get this straight," Taiga sighed with her hand raised up. "You've been getting my information from people who love to dress up as freaks, even when it isn't around Halloween?"

"First off, it's a hobby called cosplaying," Frank replied with a loud cough. "Secondly, it's not a group of cosplayers, it's a group of informants who garner information by any means necessary.

"And if those means include espionage and the arts of stealth, then so be it."

"That doesn't explain why you're dressed like that," Taiga retorted with a dull look in her eyes.

"It was for you and my other clients' benefits," Frank answered as he reached into the oni-faced chest plate and pulled out a deck of cards. "Since I have officially joined up with this group, I have a lot more access to much more important forms of information."

"So, does that make you the New York version of Beverly Hills Ninja?" Taiga retorted.

"Mock me all you like, but I myself get a few perks because of my new position," Frank stated with his arms crossed. "I get better information, I get access to cards and items of interest much easier, and…"

Frank tapped his free hand against the D-Wheel a few times with a smirk, "I got this bad boy out of it as well."

"And all I gotta do is duel you to get my information?" Taiga questioned.

Frank only nodded in response.

Which prompted Taiga to turn slightly to the side, "But do you have to wear that goofy looking thing?"

A few minutes later, both duelists were mounted on their D-Wheels, both of their engines revving loudly and their helmets covering their heads. Taiga snickered loudly and turned towards Frank, "Prepare yourself Frank, cause I'm not going to hold back!"

"Then enough talk," Frank stated as both duelists pushed a button on their duel disks.

"SPEED WORLD 2! SET ON!"

As their dashboard computers came to life, both duelists sped off into the street. As they sped through the streets, the road itself came to life with a holographic wall alerting the drivers in other vehicles that the two duelists were about to transfer to the specialized dueling road.

Both duelists drove onto the duelist lane with Taiga leading the riders on the road. "Looks like I'll lead us off!" (TLP: 8000 / SC: 0)

"Very well!" Frank shouted back. (FLP: 8000 / SC: 0)

Taiga pulled off the top card from her deck and looked at the six cards in her hand and nodded at them. "Alright Frank, I'm gunning for ya! But I'll start off slow – I set a monster face down and a back row card."

Both cards popped over the road around Taiga's D-Wheel, making the tiger eared girl smirking wildly. "And consider yourself lucky, that's all I can do on the first turn!"

"Gee, what an honor," Frank stated as he and Taiga took a dull turn towards the right. When he drew, both of the duelists' speed counters clicked up to one each. "Then I shall do this!"

Frank immediately slapped a card onto the dashboard duel disk portion, allowing a black shadow to dash over the road and run alongside the elf's D-Wheel. As the blurred shadow began to solidify itself on the road, Taiga was able to see the monster that Frank summoned was a dark clothed and masked ninja with a long red scarf with golden bracelets and golden greaves.

The Japanese warrior was more than capable of keeping up with the two roaring vehicles, despite the fact that he was only on foot (1700/1200). "Strike Ninja graces the field in attack mode!"

"I never realized that you had a ninja fetish," Taiga muttered under her breath. "At least it gives you a spark of personality."

"It's not a fetish!" Frank shouted loudly with a blood vessel appearing on the side of his head. "Strike Ninja! Strike down that face down!"

The dark clothed ninja immediately leapt high into the air and immediately threw several kunai that pierced the back of the face down monster. For a moment, the card just sat there before it shattered to reveal a sleek red dragon with light red armor on its winged arms (1700/1600). The dragon screeched loudly before it shattered into millions of flames.

"Smooth move, Ninja-Frank!" Taiga laughed as all of the flames on the field began to fly around the two duelists. "That monster you just killed was my Red Wyrm! And when destroyed in battle, it burns off five hundred points of damage from ya!"

Frank's eyes widened as the flames crashed into his D-Wheel, making him stagger a lot on the road. "URK!" (FLP: 7500 / SC: 1)

As the flames disappeared, Frank narrowed his eyes behind his visor of his helmet, "That's a new one, I didn't think you used burn attacks…"

"Don't assume anything, Frank," Taiga laughed as she pushed a button on her duel disk. "Cause now I'm playing my face down card – Dragon's Descent!"

Taiga's face down card flipped up, allowing an ear splitting roar to erupt onto the field as the trap card immediately shattered to unleash an incredibly large dragon that was covered with ebony colored armor (2400/1200). The monster slammed its claws into the road as it followed Taiga's D-Wheel. "Since my Rare Metal Dragon can't be summoned normally, Dragon's Descent is a godsend, allowing me to special summon a level four or lower dragon from my hand."

"And now you're using dragons?" Frank questioned with a raised eyebrow. "What the heck brought that change on?"

Taiga narrowed her eyes, "You're an informant alright – prying your nose into other people's business. What does it matter?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Frank merely slipped two additional cards into his dashboard, making them appear behind his dashing Strike Ninja. "Two cards set then, and I'll leave it at that."

"Good! Now I can really crush ya!" Taiga announced before she drew from the top of her deck and getting the Speed Counters for both duelists to increase by one. "And I'll start with the Speed Spell – Angel Baton! Now, I've got two Speed Counters, so I can draw two cards from my deck and then discard one card!"

Taiga plucked off two more cards from her deck and slipped them into her D-Wheel's dashboard graveyard slot. "I discard Reincarnation Dragon Samsara, but enough about that! Rare Metal Dragon! Devour his ninja!"

The large dragon immediately stopped running and allowed the Strike Ninja to run straight towards the large armored dragon. However, as the two monsters were getting closer to each other, the Strike Ninja brought his hands up to his chest and began to perform several hand signals. Frank threw his arm up into the air as a ghostly mist began to seep around his D-Wheel, "You should know better than attacking a ninja head on! I play my trap card – Armored Ninjitsu Art: Rust Mist!"

The odd mist began to warp around the Rare Metal Dragon's body, making its dark armor get covered with rust (2400/1200 – 1200/0). Taiga's eyes widened as the ninja leapt into the air and threw countless shuriken into the dragon's forehead, which shattered the dragon into a million pixels. "W-What did you do to my dragon?" (TLP: 7500 / SC: 2)

"It was my Ninjitsu Art card," Frank explained as he drove alongside Tagia's D-Wheel. "As long as I have one ninja out on the field, all special summoned monsters you control lose half of their attack points. This is a card that Ninja's use against the Six Samurai, especially since they specialize in special summoning themselves.

"In any case, continue your turn."

"I will!" Taiga snarled as she slapped a card onto her dashboard. "I set a monster, and I'll set two cards face down! Turn end!"

"That won't work against me!" Frank announced as he slowly pulled ahead of Taiga. As soon as he was ahead of the cat eared Shadowchaser, Frank pulled off another card from his deck and nodded at the card. Like before, another speed clicked on for both duelists, each of them with four now. "I summon Lady Ninja Yae in attack mode!"

A powerful surge of wind billowed over Frank's D-Wheel, allowing a beautiful, green haired kunoichi to land on the back of his D-Wheel. Her purple ninja garb billowed in the wind as she drew a small dagger from the back of her belt (1100/200). "Now, by discarding one Wind monster from my hand, such as my Roc from the Valley of Haze, I can blow back all of your spell and trap cards back to your hand!"

Once again, Taiga's eyes widened as Yae leapt into the air, spinning around to form into a powerful green and purple twister that swept over the road. Taiga bit her lower lip as the twister crashed into both over her face down cards, making them appear back in her hand, "Damn it…"

Yae immediately landed back on Frank's D-Wheel and smirked playfully at Taiga, all the while Frank lifted up another card from his graveyard. "In addition, when Roc from the Valley of Haze is sent from my hand to the graveyard, I can instead shuffle it back into my deck."

Frank fitted the card into his deck and watched as the cards were shuffled thanks to his duel gauntlet. "Now then, Strike Ninja! Attack Taiga's face down monster!"

The ninja leapt high into the air once more, throwing several kunai that flew towards the face down monster on Taiga's field.

However, unlike last time, the kunai bounced off the card and clanked against Frank's D-Wheel, making the ninja elf flinch slightly. (FLP: 7200 / SC: 4)

Frank slowly looked up to see that a large, rock-like dragon was floating over Taiga's D-Wheel (200/2000), almost smirking at the ninja-dressed elf. Taiga laughed loudly as she threw her hand up into the air, "That's my Golem Dragon! Sorry, but his defense is too high for you!"

"In that case, I shall end my turn," Frank stated as he drove faster.

Taiga slowly flicked off the top card from her deck and watched as both duelists now had five speed counters, '_Thanks to that annoying trap of his, any monster I special summon gets wounded, and if he has Yae out, setting my two traps will just be a waste…_

'_Good thing he's not the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve!'_

"Get ready for this one, Frank!" Taiga announced as she pulled another card from her hand and slapped it onto her duel disk. "I summon Axe Dragonute!"

A large dark ring appeared over Taiga's D-Wheel, and immediately unleashed a large dark scaled and dark armored dragonoid monster wielding a large battle axe in its hands (2000/1200). The dragon screeched out loudly as it flew along side the sleeping Golem Dragon. "Now, watch and be amazed! Axe Dragonute! Cut up that green haired wannabe!"

The Axe Dragonute roared loudly as it quickly dove towards the purple clothed kunoichi, however, Yae smirked as she clasped her hands together and disappeared into a large cloud of smoke. That didn't stop the Axe Dragonute from cleaving its large axe into the smoke cloud, however, when the smoke cleared, the Dragonute blinked a few times at the sight of a large log that was dressed to resemble that of Lady Ninja Yae. (FLP: 6300 / SC: 5)

"… Did I just get logged?" Taiga questioned with a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. The Axe Dragonute blushed slightly as it removed its axe and slowly floated back over Taiga's D-Wheel.

"Its log, log, its big, its heavy, its wood," Frank chuckled. "Its log, log its better than bad, its good."

"… I oughta send you crashing you into one of the buildings," Taiga muttered as both duelists made a swift turn near some of the buildings near the dueling lane.

"Hey, you're the one who brought up the dumb joke," Frank defended as the log popped into a cloud of smoke to reveal the sexy kunoichi back on his D-Wheel. "I just played my Ninjitsu Art of Decoy, so while I take damage, I can still have my Lady Ninja on the field. And since your Dragonute attacked, it moves to defense mode!"

Indeed, the Dragonute sighed loudly and drooped its head down slightly.

"Fine," Taiga sighed as she pulled up another card from her hand. "I'll set one card face down, and I'm ending my turn!"

"Alright, time to show you what ninjas can really do!" Frank announced as he plucked off the top card from his deck, clicking up an additional speed counter for both duelists. "I summon Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja!"

A powerful cyclone of wind billowed over the road, allowing a third ninja to run along the road next to the D-Wheel – This one was a young man dressed in a red ninja gi with golden fringe with wild blue and black hair that billowed with each quick step he took. And in his hands was a long golden pipe-shaped staff that he held back slightly (1500/1200). Yae smirked at Goe Goe, making the blue haired ninja smile back before the two of them turned back towards Taiga.

However, the tiger eared girl just stared at the ninjas on the field, "… Great, so you bring out another Ninjitsu loving freak? Just great… Too bad they won't be able to…"

"Get by your Golem Dragon's defense?" Frank interrupted with a smirk on his face. "I would agree that your little combo there is rather intriguing, relying on your Golem Dragon's ability to intercept any attacks towards other dragons."

"I should've figured that you'd know that trick," Taiga muttered under her breath. "But that doesn't mean that you can get past it. All you've got are those three ninjas, and they're not strong enough to get through it…"

"True, and I don't have any speed spells in my hand," Frank admitted with a smirk on his face. "However, did you know that Goe Goe and Yae are part of the same idea that the idea to incorporate video games into this game, much like the Gradius and B.E.S. cards. These two, along with a few other cards are main characters in a game series called Mystical Ninja starring Goemon."

"Yeah, yeah, video game history's much more exciting than regular history," Taiga sighed loudly. "So what?"

"Well, if you let me finish," Frank huffed loudly as he lifted his arm up high into the air. "Then you'd learn that in the game that there's a powerful ally to the ninjas of that game – And there's a card in this game that represents that powerful ally.

"And all I need to do in order to bring out that ally, is send Goe Goe and Yae to the graveyard!"

Both ninjas nodded towards each other before they leapt high into air, both of them disappearing into a pair of green smoke clouds. Taiga blinked a few times as the clouds began to form into one large smoke cloud. The sound of machinery and grinding gears echoed loudly through the air until a large robotic form flew from the smoke.

Taiga's eyes widened at the sight of a towering man-shaped machine that now flew over the field – And then her eyes went dull at the sight of the machine, since it looked like someone took Goe Goe's image and decided to base a Gundam off of the ninja warrior, complete with a large golden pipe-shaped staff that the machine spun in its hands (2600/2000). "Nin Impact Ninja!"

Taiga was speechless, but not because of the large machine that was now flying over Frank's D-Wheel, but rather… "Wow, you've totally immersed yourself in Japanese culture, haven't you?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Frank questioned.

"You're an elf," Taiga counted off, holding up one of her hands to show her fingers. "You've got one of the most Americanized names around, you talk and act like a high class snob and you're a hardcore Cheesehead!"

"I like the Packers, so what?" Frank snarled as he threw his fist up into the air. "Impact! Attack her Golem Dragon!"

The large robot flew through the air and immediately slammed the pipe-shaped staff into the dragon, crushing it into the road. "And here's the thing about Impact, when he destroys a monster, one of three effects activate – In this case, since it was an Earth monster, all face down spell and trap cards are destroyed!"

"That'd be impressive," Taiga chuckled. "If I did have any face down cards."

"What? But you do!" Frank shouted looking back at Taiga. The elf's eyes widened at the sight of the trap card that had a sleeping dragon atop of a large pile of gold with a glowing orb around the card. "… You must've activated it when I declared my attack…"

"Yep!" Taiga laughed with a catty grin on her face. "Meet Dragon's Den of Greed! When a dragon's destroyed in battle, I can place a Greed Counter on it, but what else it does will be a secret for now…"

"Then let's see what that secret is," Frank replied as the Strike Ninja pulled out several shuriken from out of nowhere. "Strike Ninja! Strike down the Axe Dragonute!"

The black clothed ninja threw the several shuriken into the crouched down dragon, shattering the monster into a million shards. The shards immediately flew around Taiga's trap card and transformed into a golden orb. "Now, due to Impact using his effect, even though it was useless, I cannot set any spell or traps during my second main phase, so I'll end my turn."

"Then I'm ending this whole thing," Taiga stated as she pulled off the top card from her deck and looked at the card as the speed counters clicked up to seven each. "It's at this point I can use my Dragon's Den of Greed's other effect! Now by destroying the trap, I can draw one card for each Greed Counter on it – So, that's two more cards!"

Taiga plucked the cards and smirked at them. "And now, its time to bring out the big guns! I summon Flamvell Guard in attack mode!"

A powerful flame erupted on the road, allowing a small black and dark blue armored dragon appeared on the field with long flames pouring from its body (100/2000). "Next, I play the Speed Spell – Summon Speeder! Now, I can special summon another dragon from my hand – This one is Divine Dragon Ragnarok!"

A large ring of light popped next to Taiga's D-Wheel, unleashing a long sleek dragon made out of white energy that flew next to Taiga's D-Wheel (1500/1000 – 750/0). "And I'm not done, not by a long shot! I play the effect of a dragon in my graveyard – Reincarnation Dragon Samsara! By removing it from play, I can special summon a dragon from my graveyard!

"So, welcome back to field – Axe Dragonute!"

A large powerful black flame erupted on the field, and the axe drawn dragon flew from the flames (2000/1000 – 1000/0). Frank narrowed his eyes at the three dragons on the field, "So, you've got an army out, and you're going to Synchro Summon. But remember, I still have my Rust Mist out on the field!"

"So what?" Taiga chuckled with a fanged smirk. "With what I'm about to do, your trap card doesn't matter! You see, for what I'm about to summon, I need a Dragon type tuner…"

The Flamvell Guard screeched loudly before it transformed into a fiery red ring. "One dark monster, like my Axe Dragonute…"

The Axe Dragonute flew through the ring of fire, transforming into four stars of darkness. "And one light monster, and that means Divine Dragon Ragnarok!"

The serpentine dragon flew into the fiery ring, this time transforming into four stars of light that swirled with the dark stars. "So, from the depths of chaos, both light and darkness become one inside of a single vessel! Synchro summon – Yin Yang Dragoon!"

The stars transformed into a powerful surge of energy that flew over the road until two massive wings erupted from the light – One was an angelic wing while the other was a demonic bat wing. The light shattered to reveal a sleek woman-shaped dragon that was covered with light black and white armor with long silver hair that billowed backwards.

The dragonic woman flew around Taiga's D-Wheel before she flew up high into the air and screeched loudly (2500/2300 – 1250/0).

Frank blinked a few times at the odd monster that Taiga just summoned, but smirked at the sight of it, "It's pretty impressive, but my Rust Mist cuts its attack in two!"

"But it won't matter in two seconds!" Taiga roared back as she pulled out two cards from her graveyard slot. "Cause I'm using her ability right now! Yin-Yang Boom!"

The Yin Yang Dragoon drew her hands in front of her chest, creating a large orb that resembled that of the Yin-Yang symbol. Within its clawed hands, the Dragoon slammed the orb into road, creating a powerful dark hole that began to pull in everything around the two duelists.

Frank's eyes widened as his cards disappeared, "W-What the?"

And yet, Taiga just continued to smirk as everything was drawn into dark hole.

**TTTTTT**

_Meanwhile, back at Shadowchasers' New York Main Base…_

Hyde calmly sipped on his coffee, trying to ignore the stares that Irving and Hardin were shooting at him. "… This is pretty good, a lot better than the stuff I make."

"I got it at the Village," Hardin stated with a bead of sweat appearing on the side of her head.

"Ah, right, the Village," Hyde muttered before he took a second sip. "It certainly does taste like the good stuff."

Irving tapped his hand against his elbow a few times, remembering what Jalal had told him and Hardin about this supposed Shadowchaser. It wasn't every day that you met a dead guy… Well, not one that's actually supposed to be a dead ally. But it was easy to see that this coffee sipping man wasn't dead – Still alive and kicking, especially if he was the same character who appeared last night at the warehouses.

Still, there were still a few questions that racked his mind, and the overcoat covered Shadowchaser was going to get the answers to them. "So, Vayne was it?"

"Yeah?" Hyde questioned placing his emptied mug onto the table between him and the two other Shadowchasers.

"Jalal said that your team thinks you're dead," Irving stated bluntly. "Any reason for why they think that?"

"It was the note I left behind," Hyde answered just as bluntly without turning away. "I remember that three years ago I stated that I chose death over injustice, or something of that matter."

"No wonder they think you're dead," Hardin stated under her breath as she pushed up her thick glasses.

"So, clearly, you're not dead," Irving pointed out. "Did you find that taking your own life wasn't worth it, or did you just not muster up the courage to do the deed?"

"That was rather cold for you," Hardin sighed with a shrug.

Hyde turned to the side and smirked, "I never said that I was going to take my life. I just…"

The supposedly dead Shadowchaser stopped and smirked at Irving and Hardin, "I had something to do. Something that was more important than being with the Shadowchasers."

Irving nodded a few times, "I can relate to that. So, why exactly are you in New York?"

"I was born and raised here," Hyde answered. "I thought it would be necessary to get back to my roots. Of course, that'd be half of a lie."

"Oh?" Irving questioned. "I'm surprised that you'd admit that."

"It's true that I'm glad to be back in the Big Apple," Hyde answered. "But a man shouldn't lie, especially to those he just met."

"Good policy," Irving laughed loudly with his hat covered head lifted up slightly. "So, what brings you back to New York? Especially since…"

"Irving," Hardin interrupted, getting the larger Shadowchaser stop in mid-sentence with her hand lifted up. "I'm sorry, but we have other important matters to deal with, mostly considering the fact that this man was the one who interrupted our raid last night."

"Ah that's right," Irving chuckled sheepishly. "My apologies, but Hardin is correct Vayne, any reason why you did get in the way of our raid?"

For a moment, Hyde reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of Lucky Seven cigarettes and a lighter. He was about to reach for a cigarette, when he looked up with a tired smile on his rugged face. "You mind?"

"I don't have a problem with smokers," Irving answered. "But the smoke detectors might get on your case. Hardin, would you mind turning them off for the time being?"

For a moment Hardin just looked at Irving with a surprised look behind her glasses. Most of the time, Irving was known as a serious health nut, and smoking was one of the worst things that a person could do in front of Irving. If the mysterious Shadowchaser was willing to allow this Hyde person to smoke – inside, right in front of Irving – then there must've been something else going on.

"Very well," Hardin replied as she stood up straight from her seat and slowly walked out of the room.

As soon as the dark clothed Shadowchaser was out of the room, Hyde slipped the cigarette into his mouth. As he flicked the lighter to life, the former Shadowchaser looked at Irving with a raised eyebrow, "I take it you want to discuss something personal with me without her in the room."

"You've got a keen sense," Irving admitted as he sat back in the couch, lifting his feet up onto the table in front of him. A small gleam appeared between the hat and collar where Irving's eyes would be. "But you're not the only one with those kinds of senses Vayne. I've trained a lot of young Shadowchasers in my days, and I know how to read looks."

Hyde smirked as he lit up the cigarette and took a quick puff of his cigarette, "I didn't think I was that readable."

"You're not," Irving pointed out. "If it was anyone normal, then we'd just continue with Hardin's line of questions. But I can barely tell that what you're baring is a weight that's not so easily lifted from a man's shoulders."

With a ring of smoke popping from his mouth, Hyde lifted up his cigarette away from his mouth. "… The lives of others never are light."

"I'm not going to force you to say anything," Irving pointed out as he lifted one of his hands up near his head. "But, if you need any help with what you're doing, I'm willing to help."

"Any reason why you'd do that?" Hyde questioned as he placed the cigarette back in his mouth.

Irving immediately stood up and crossed his arms at Hyde, making the smoker blink a few times. All of a sudden a mysterious breeze billowed through the room, making Irving's coattails flap in the breeze. "The answer is simple! I have two reasons for why I want to help you – Reason one, my old man beat into my head that so long as you can lift your hand up, you can never turn away anyone who needs help!

"And reason two, my own personal rule, never turn away people who are a part of your family – And any and all Shadowchasers I consider family!"

Hyde sat there, blinking a few times at Irving's proclamation. A few moments later, Hyde took a long drag on his cigarette and blew out the smoke, "You remind me of one of my old co-workers…"

"Barron Diego, right?" Irving snickered with a nod of his head. "He was one of my many students in the world, had to beat him a few times to get his lecherous ways out of him, but I like to think I managed to do that."

'… _Yeah, you should've hit him a few more times,'_ Hyde thought with a smirk on his face. "Alright, then let me ask you a question – Have there been any reports of odd deaths within the last few months?"

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific," Irving stated with his arms uncrossed. "There have been a lot of mysterious deaths. It kinda comes with the territory of becoming a Shadowchaser."

"Of course," Hyde replied as he wagged his cigarette at Irving. "Weird deaths are a staple in this profession – Then how about cases where the victims were either drowned on land, frozen solid, electrocuted, or suffocated without any strangulation."

"Hmm, I'd have to look it up, but why those?" Irving questioned.

"… I'm looking for the guy who committed those deaths," Hyde answered quickly as he took a long drag on his cigarette.

**TTTTTT**

_Back at the riding duel…_

After everything around the two D-Wheels had been drawn into the large dark hole, both duelists slowly came to a stop with Taiga stopping a few feet in front of Frank's D-Wheel. "Impressive, wouldn't ya say?"

"W-What just happened?" Frank shouted from his D-Wheel.

Taiga smirked as she pulled her helmet off her head, shaking her head a few times to get her hair and ears some air. "Weren't you paying attention? I was using Yin-Yang Dragoon's ability – By removing one Light monster and one Dark monster from my graveyard, I'm able to eradicate everything from the field."

"Sounds like Chaos Emperor Dragon," Frank muttered out loud.

"Only you don't take damage, this card's harder to summon," Taiga counted off with her eyes closed and her brow narrowed down at the ninja elf. "Its effect is a lot more effective, plus, it's a lot easier on the eyes. But funny you should mention that outlawed dragon – Yin-Yang Dragon was actually created to be used as a replacement since that Black Luster Soldier managed to come back onto the list of usable cards.

"I think it was a good call for me get that card while I was on probation."

"Yeah, yeah," Frank stated with his arms crossed. "Tell me, why dragons?"

With a roll of her eyes, Taiga fitted the helmet back on her head, "Let's just continue this duel for now…"

"Sure," Frank replied before both riding duelists drove back onto the dueling lane, Taiga now leading the two duelists down the road.

"Good! Then since it's still my turn, I'll set one card face down," Taiga announced as she slipped the card into her dashboard. "And I'll now go into my end phase, so, say hello to a familiar face…"

A large Yin-Yang symbol appeared over Taiga's D-Wheel, which immediately shattered and unleashed the Yin-Yang Dragoon back over the road. The feminine dragon roared loudly as she flew around Taiga's D-Wheel (2500/2300).

Frank's eyes widened at the dragoon flying over the road, "What the hell!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Dragoon's other ability," Taiga snickered with her tongue sticking out. "If she's destroyed by her own ability, I can summon her back from the graveyard. Okay, my turn's officially over."

Frank gulped as he drew, giving him and Taiga an even eight number of Speed Counters, '_Great, so I'm practically starting over here! And to top it off, she's got a powerhouse to her name!'_

Frank looked at the cards in his hand and narrowed his eyes at the cards, '_And to top THAT off, I don't have a lot to work with – I guess I'll just have to change that.'_

"To start off, I'll play a familiar Speed Spell – Angel Baton!"

Several angel feathers flew around Frank's D-Wheel as he pulled off two cards from his deck and he immediately slipped another card into his graveyard. "I discard Armored Ninja Aqua from my hand, and then, I use Speed World 2's ability to remove seven of my Speed Counters to draw an additional card!"

Frank's D-Wheel immediately sped down, creating a large distance between his and Taiga's D-Wheels as his speed counters dropped to one. Frank gritted his teeth before he slapped a card onto his duel disk, "I set a monster face down! Turn end!"

"Really?" Taiga questioned as she looked back at the face down monster that appeared alongside Frank's D-Wheel. "That's all you've got? What happened Frank? Did your ninjas finally disappear into the shadows?"

"Whenever they do, their enemies should watch themselves," Frank warned with his eyes narrowed down.

'_He's right,'_ Taiga thought to herself as she drew her next card, giving her nine speed counters and Frank two of them. '_Most ninjas do tend to have sneaky effects when flipped up… But luckily, I've got a way past that and use this to my advantage.'_

"To start off this ending," Taiga announced as she pushed a button on her duel disk. "I play my trap card – Immortal Dragon! Now, I can special summon a dragon from my graveyard or removed from play pile – So, I'll choose to summon Reincarnation Dragon Samsara!"

The trap card flipped up to unleash the ghostly dragon back over the road, with the dragon sleeping soundly (0/0). "But he's not going to stay here for too long, I release Samsara to advance summon this!"

The ghostly dragon disappeared into several ghostly wisps that flew into the air. The wisps transformed into a large ring of light that unleashed an incredibly large, sea green scaled dragon with a pair of incredibly long and powerful wings on its back. The dragon's body was a practical mountain of muscle that made the dragon more intimidating (2400/1000). Both the Yin-Yang Dragon and this dragon flew around the air in perfect synchronization around Taiga's D-Wheel. "And before you get on my case, yeah, I know that I could've brought out Axe Dragonute and tributed him to empower this Strong Wind Dragon…

"But I've got some plans in the future for this! Now, for the attack! Strong Wind!"

The larger of the two dragons flew straight up into the air before it turned around and inhaled a large breath of air. Then with a powerful snap of its head, the Strong Wind Dragon unleashed a powerful twister of air that immediately crashed into the face down card. The twister caused the card to fly up into the air and transform it into a young ninja dressed in leaf green garb with a flag in his hands (1000/800).

The young ninja cringed before he shattered into millions of pixels, all the while Taiga smirked wildly. "And thanks to Strong Wind Dragon's final effect, when it battles a monster in defense, you take the difference as damage!"

The remainder of the twister spun around the road and crashed into Frank's D-Wheel, making his D-Wheel spin wildly. "GARGH!" (FLP: 4700 / SC: 2)

When Frank managed to regain control, he held his free hand up to his deck, "Impressive ability, but you still have get past my Ninja Field Agent's ability! When destroyed in battle, I can add one Ninja from my deck to my hand!"

"… Like that's a threat," Taiga scoffed with a roll of her eyes as Frank added the card to his hand. "Unless you've got a ninja version of Kuriboh in your hand, then my Yin-Yang Dragoon gets a clear shot at ya!"

Frank's eyes widened as the Dragoon dive bombed his D-Wheel and slammed her clawed hands into the side of the elf's D-Wheel, sending him wobbling slightly. "Sonova-!" (FLP: 2200 / SC: 2)

"Too bad you don't lose Speed Counters any more when you take damage," Taiga pointed out with a sigh. "In any case, I got nothing else to play this turn, so, I'll end it right here!"

Frank took a deep breath before he drew from the top of his deck and watched as his Speed Counter clicked up to three and Taiga's went to nine. "First, I'll summon Ninja Commander Ikusa!"

In a cloud of smoke, a green armored ninja ran onto the road next to Frank's D-Wheel, a blade strapped to his back as he easily kept up with the vehicle (700/700). "And when I normal summon this guy, he performs a ninjitsu art of his own – Ninjitsu Art of Summoning!"

With several hand signs, Ikusa conjured up a second cloud of smoke on the other side of Frank's D-Wheel, and another ninja leapt onto the field, this one was a bit more traditional with a baggy black gi and pants with a katana sheathed on his back (400/400). "Ninja Soldier Katana!"

"… This is what you're using?" Taiga questioned with a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of her head. "Two discount bin cards?"

"I set one card face down," Frank announced as one of the final cards in his hand was fitted into his D-Wheel. "And I end my turn!"

'_Does he really think I'm going to fall for this?'_ Taiga thought as she drew from the top of her deck, giving both duelists an additional Speed Counter. "No dice Frank! I'm using Speed World 2's third ability! By sending ten of the eleven speed counters I have, I can blast away that annoying little face down card of yours!"

Taiga immediately pulled on the brakes of her D-Wheel, making her motorcycle screech loudly as it went past Frank's D-Wheel. As she went past, Frank's face down card shattered into millions of pixels. "Thanks Taiga! That face down card that you just wasted was one known as Dummy Marker! And when destroyed, I get to draw a card…

"But, if its destroyed by a Spell card, then I can draw twice! And since Speed World is still a spell card, I can do so!"

Taiga bit her lip as she watch Frank pull the top two cards from her deck, but then she smirked, "Well, well, well, looks like old Frank managed to pull the wool over my eyes!"

"Hey! I'm not old!" Frank snapped. "I'm seasoned!"

"But that's not going to derail my plans!" Taiga snickered as she threw her hand up into the air. "Yin Yang Dragoon! Attack Katana!"

The large dragoon flew through the air and began to dive bomb towards the weaker ninja, however, as the dragon was about to cut through ninja, a large, yet familiar puffy, blue wool sheep dressed in ninja garb appeared in front of the dragoon. The Yin Yang Dragoon quickly pulled up and missed the large sheep before the sheep disappeared into a large cloud of blue smoke.

Taiga blinked a few times as the smoke cleared, "What in the world was that?"

"My apologies, but I should've told you what my Ninja Field Agent granted me," Frank chuckled as he fitted a card into his duel disk's graveyard slot. "My ninja granted me the chance to add Sleepy Sheep Ninja from my deck to my hand. And my Sleepy Sheep Ninja itself has the ability to discard itself from my hand when you would attack one of my ninjas. Now, the attack is negated, and your battle phase ends."

"Lovely," Taiga muttered as she watched the smoke clear away completely. '_Well, I didn't see that one coming… And I don't have anything I want to set.'_

"I'll end my turn."

"Very well," Frank announced as he began to reach for his deck, but then turn his hand towards his dashboard. "However, it's at this time that I can use Sleepy Sheep Ninja's second effect."

Frank pulled the card from his graveyard and lifted up the card before he placed it with the other two cards in his hand. "If I used its effect to block an attack, then during my draw phase if I have a face up Ninja on the field, I can add Sleepy Sheep Ninja back to my hand."

"Great, so you're going to use that sheep to keep blocking my attacks?" Taiga questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really," Frank stated as both duelists' Speed Counters clicked up by one once again. "I can only use that effect once per duel… But there's another reason for added Sleepy Sheep Ninja to my hand. I summon Sleepy Sheep Ninja!"

In a pop of blue smoke, the ninja clothed sheep reappeared over the road, yawning loudly (0/0). Both of the ninjas that were running on the road looked towards each other before they sighed loudly.

"And what's the point of summoning it?" Taiga questioned.

"Simple really," Frank answered back as he lifted his hand towards the Sleepy Sheep Ninja, which immediately woke up and baaed loudly. "This beast is a Tuner monster! I tune Sleepy Sheep Ninja to my Ikusa and Katana!"

The Sleepy Sheep Ninja popped into a single ring of light that both Ikusa and Katana leapt into. Both of the ninjas transformed into three stars of light each which immediately grew into a violent storm of wind that flew over the entire road. "_Through the shadows and storms, I combine the souls of the shinobi to invoke the Azure Dragon of the East!_

"_Arise Ninjitsu Dragon – Seiryu!"_

The storm was ripped to shreds and unleashed another powerful dragon onto the field, this time however, it looked to be a blue scaled, dragonoid human dressed in black and silver ninja robes with azure armor covering its shoulders, waist and legs. The dragon looked to be one of the serpentine type with long white hair and two long whiskers, all which billowed in the air as the dragon landed on the back of Frank's D-Wheel (2400/2000) with its arms crossed.

Taiga stared directly at the blue scaled dragonoid, before she narrowed her eyes, "You copycat bastard – You think that you can beat me with a dragon?"

"I'm going to try," Frank replied as he lifted a card from his duel gauntlet. "First, I'm going to set a card face down, and then I'll activate a Speed Spell – This one's called Flat Tire! Now, since I have more than three Speed Counters, one monster on your side of the field loses two hundred attack points for each Speed Counter I have…

"And that's five! So your Dragoon loses a thousand attack points!"

Several scratches appeared on the Chaos Dragoon's body, making its flying slow down slightly and fall behind Taiga's D-Wheel (2500/2300 – 1000/1000). Taiga's eyes went dull slightly. "Great…"

"But that's not all," Frank chuckled as a powerful blue aura erupted over Seiryu's body (2400/2000 + 700/0). "Since I have less cards in my hand than you do, I can use Seiryu's effect to increase his attack by seven hundred points! And all of them are heading for your Yin Yang Dragoon!"

Clasping its clawed hands together, a powerful storm erupted in front of Seiryu's chest and he immediately unleashed a powerful surge of wind that flew through the air and crashed right into the Yin Yang Dragoon's body, shattering the monster into countless pixels that swept over Taiga's D-Wheel. (TLP: 5900 / SC: 2)

"Heh, not bad Frank," Taiga chuckled as a loud beeping sound erupted from her dashboard. "Now what?"

"Seiryu's other effect," Frank chuckled with his hand held upwards. "When he successfully destroys a monster through battle and sends it to the graveyard, you're forced to discard a card from your hand."

Taiga narrowed her eyes at the cards she held in her hand and raised an eyebrow, "… Do I get to choose?"

"Yes," Frank answered bluntly.

"Then I'll discard Dread Dragon from my hand," Taiga announced as she slipped the card into her D-Wheel's dashboard. "Is that all you've got?"

"At the moment, yes," Frank replied with a nod of his head. "I've got nothing left in my hand…"

Both duelists made a quick turn to the right, going through the dueling lane that was set between the buildings. And as soon as the turn was finished, Taiga snapped off the top card from her deck and nodded at it, which then gave both duelists another Speed Counter, three for Taiga and six for Frank. "I set both of my cards face down, so, we have the same number of cards in our hands. And I'm willing to be that your dragon loses that boost of his when we have the same number of cards!"

Frank bit his lower lip as Seiryu's aura began to disappear (2400/2000).

"And since Strong Wind Dragon can't be destroyed by monsters with the same attack points," Taiga chuckled as she threw her hand forward. "Your dragon will lose! Strong Wind Dragon!"

Once again the Strong Wind Dragon began to draw in a large deep breath, however, Seiryu clasped his clawed hands together once again and immediately created a large cloud of smoke in his hands. When the smoke disappeared, a large curved blade attached to a chain was grasped in the Ninjitsu Dragon's hands (2400/2000 + 500/0). "I hate to tell you this Taiga, but thanks to Kunai with Chain, I can empower my own dragon by five hundred points!

"Now, slay her dragon Seiryu!"

Spinning the chained blade in its hands, Seiryu threw the weapon towards the surprise Strong Wind Dragon and wrapped the chain around the weaker dragon's body. The Strong Wind Dragon tried to free itself, however Seiryu pull itself from Frank's D-Wheel and slammed its foot directly the other dragon's stomach, shattering the dragon over Taiga's D-Wheel. (TLP: 5400 / SC: 3)

"When did you learn how to duel, Frank?" Taiga questioned as she slipped the cards into her graveyard slot.

"What are you talking about?" Frank questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I've been dueling for a few years now… I just wasn't big on the game."

Taiga rolled her eyes a few times when she heard that, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I end my turn."

"You ask a question and I answered," Frank muttered to himself as he drew his next card from his deck, granting each duelist an additional speed counter. "Yeesh, show a little respect for your elders."

"No," Taiga spat back.

"Fine! Then I'll summon this!" Frank announced as he slapped a single card onto his duel disk. "I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke!"

A large cloud of smoke erupted onto the road, unleashing a fully armored ninja with a green vest covering its body (1800/1500) to run alongside Frank's D-Wheel. "Now, I go on the attack! Seiryu! Attack her directly!"

Spinning the kunai with chain over its head, the empowered Dragon of the East threw the weapon towards Taiga, however, just as the weapon was about to strike her D-Wheel, a powerful barrier erupted over her D-Wheel and bounced the weapon safely away from her D-Wheel. "Hate to tell ya Frank, but I just activated Defense Draw! So Seiryu's attack was rendered useless!"

Frank smirked as he watched Taiga pull off the next card from the top of her deck. "So I can see Taiga, but it can't help you against Sasuke's attack!"

The armored ninja leapt backwards and immediately threw several kunai that bounced off against Taiga's D-Wheel, making her grunt slightly. (TLP: 3600 / SC: 4)

"And since you have more cards in your hand than I do," Frank stated as the blue aura over Seiryu reappeared (2900/2000 + 700/0). "Seiryu gets stronger!"

"We'll see how long that lasts!" Taiga retorted.

"Then come for me," Frank retorted as he drove faster down the road with Taiga chasing after him. "I know that you can do much better than this Taiga!"

"Then allow me to show ya what I can really do!" Taiga roared as she pulled off the top card from her deck and nodded at the cards she had in her hand, all the while her and Frank's Speed Counters increased by one. "First, I'll special summon Vice Dragon from my hand!"

Slapping the card onto her D-Wheel's dashboard, Taiga called out what appeared to a large purple scaled dragon with long membrane green wings that flapped several times in order to keep it airborne (2000/2400 – 1000/1200). "Since you have monsters out and I don't, I can summon this monster without tribute – However its attack and defense are cut in half…

"Next, I'll play my other trap card – Call of the Haunted! Which allows me to special summon Dread Dragon from my graveyard as well!"

As the trap card lifted, an odd bronze scaled dragon with dreadlocked hair bounded over the road in a messy manner (1100/400) almost as if it was drunk. "Now, guess what, Dread Dragon's a Tuner monster too! So I can tune my level two Dread Dragon with my level five Vice Dragon…"

The drunken dragon popped into two fiery rings that wrapped around the flying Vice Dragon, transforming the dragon into a towering pillar of light that flew over Taiga's D-Wheel. "Synchro Summon – Exploder Dragonwing!"

The light shattered to unleash another dragon over the road, this one with a skinner, if not as muscular body type as the Strong Wind Dragon's body, only with ebony colored scales and red membrane wings and membrane between its head's horns. The dragon roared loudly with the ground shaking (2400/1600).

"Great," Frank muttered with his eyes narrowed down at the monsters. "So, you're aiming for Sasuke are you? Then bring it on!"

"Like I said, you're going to regret that!" Taiga announced as she threw her hand forward, making the Exploder Dragonwing roar loudly. "Exploder Dragonwing!"

The large dragon drew in a large breath, making the skin on its back inflate largely. Then when the dragon opened its mouth, the Exploder Dragonwing unleashed a powerful twister that swept through the air towards Sasuke.

"And I was prepared for that!" Frank announced as a large torrent of water erupted from the road and crashed into the twister, canceling the attack. "I activate the effect of Armored Ninja – Aqua from my graveyard! By removing it from my graveyard, I can negate your attack!"

As the water and air disappeared, Taiga smirked wildly, "Is that a fact now? I was actually glad you did that! Cause you did that I can now play this Speed Spell – Rocket Booster!"

Two large red and white rockets appeared on the arms of the Dragonwing's body, making the dragon roar out even louder (2400/1600 + 1250/0). "When I have five or more speed counters on the field, I can increase the attack of one monster on my field who just had their attack negated by two hundred and fifty points for each Speed Counter I've got!

"And, in addition – that monster can attack again!"

Frank's eyes widened as the empowered Dragonwing roared loudly, all the while Seiryu's aura began to disappear (2900/2000). "And guess what, I'm aiming for Seiryu this time! Dragonwing! Finish this! Attack Ninjitsu Dragon – Seiryu!"

The large dragon used the two rockets and flew through the air towards the surprised Seiryu and slammed both of the rockets into Seiryu's chest, shattering the dragon into millions of pixels. Several sparks of electricity flew around Frank's D-Wheel, making his eyes widen, "W-What's going on?"

"Dragonwing's effect!" Taiga announced as the dragon in question roared loudly. "When it battles a monster with lower attack points, that monster is automatically destroyed and you take damage equal to its attack! So, since your dragon had twenty-nine hundred attack points – This duel is over with!"

Frank's D-Wheel surged with electricity, surprising the elf ninja as a large amount of steam shot out from his D-Wheel, forcing his vehicle to stop in its tracks. (FLP: 0)

Taiga slammed on the brakes and spun around just in time to see Frank's D-Wheel come to a complete stop in front of her. "And now the tiger's claws strike!"

**TTTTTTT**

_A few minutes later back in front of the Bronx Zoo…_

"Gagh, riding duels are too much," Frank muttered with his head held low.

"Oh come on, that wasn't too bad for a first time," Taiga sighed with a shrug. "Besides, you were up against me, if it was anyone else, you might've kept your dignity in tack."

"Smooth," Frank grumbled. "In any case, about that information…"

"Yeah! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Taiga laughed as she held her hand out in front of her. "Whatever information you've got had better be good!"

"… I don't have the information yet," Frank said.

For a moment Taiga just stood in front of Frank with a smile on her face, albeit her right eyelid was twitching slightly...

_Two seconds later…_

"GAGH!" Frank gagged as he tried to free himself from the powerful grip of the tiger tail that was holding him a few feet off the ground. All the while, Taiga had her eyes narrowed at the ninja elf, using her tail to strangle Frank.

"You lousy," Taiga snarled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You just wasted a load of my time!"

"I… I said 'yet'!" Frank sputtered out with his face starting to turn blue slightly. "I can… I can get the… Information in a couple of… hours!"

At that very moment, Taiga's tail released itself from Frank's neck, dropping the elf to the ground. When Frank finally caught his breath, he looked up to see that Taiga was looking down at him with a cute smile on her face. "My bad Frank! Well look, you got my cell phone number, once you get the information, be sure to get it to me ASAP, kay?"

And with a spin of her heel, Taiga slowly sauntered back towards her D-Wheel with her tail slowly curled around her waist. "Later Frank!"

Frank rubbed his neck a few times as he watched Taiga mount her D-Wheel, '_If I didn't owe your father, I would never help you out… Taiga, why are you nothing like him?'_

_TBC…_

**TTTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Armored Ninjitsu Art: Rust Mist / Continuous Trap / Effect:** Activate only if you control a face-up 'Ninja' monster(s). Halve the ATK of all face-up Special Summoned monsters your opponent controls.

**Image:** An armed ninja landing in a ground with a downpour of rain around him.

**Armored Ninja Aqua / Water / LV. 4 / ATK: 800 / DEF: 1600 / Warrior/Effect:** When your opponent's monster declares an attack, you can remove this card from your graveyard to negate the attack.

**Description:** A blue clothed, cybernetic ninja.

_The preceding two cards were used by Yamikawa in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal and will appear in a pack in the future. However, Armored Ninja Aqua's effect in this duel is based on the Anime effect, if this card appears again in the future, it will have its standard card effect._

**Ninja Commander Ikusa / Dark / LV. 3 / ATK: 700 / DEF: 700 / Warrior/Effect:** When this card is successfully normal summoned, special summon one 'Ninja Soldier Katana' from your hand or deck.

**Description:** a green armored ninja with a blade strapped to his back as

**Ninja Soldier Katana / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 400 / DEF: 400 / Warrior**

**Description:** A ninja dressed in a baggy black gi and pants with a katana sheathed on his back

_The preceding two cards were used by Jean Claude Magnum in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Series._

**Dummy Marker / Normal Trap / Effect:** When this Set card is destroyed, draw 1 card. If this Set card was destroyed by the effect of an opponent's Spell Card, draw 1 more card.

**Image:** [No clear image]

_This card was used by Judai in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime._

**Red Wyrm / Fire / LV. 4 / ATK: 1700 / DEF: 1600 / Dragon/Effect:** If this card is destroyed by battle, the player who destroyed it takes 500 damage.

**Description:** A sleek red armored wyrm dragon

**Reincarnation Dragon Samsara / Dark / LV. 1 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Dragon/Effect:** You can remove from play this card from your Graveyard to select 1 Dragon-Type monster in your graveyard, and Special Summon it.

**Description:** A ghostly dragon with a dark aura over its body

**Immortal Dragon / Normal Trap / Effect:** Select 1 Dragon-Type monster in your graveyard, or 1 of your removed from play Dragon-Type monsters, and Special Summon it.

**Image:** A large shadowed dragon erupting from the earth.

**Dragon's Descent / Normal Trap / Effect:** Special Summon 1 Level 4 or Lower Dragon-Type monster from your hand.

**Image:** A large dragon roaring behind a sword wielding knight

_The preceding cards were used by Manjoume in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga._

**Nin Impact Ninja / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2000 / Machine/Fusion/Effect:** [Lady Ninja Yae + Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja] This card can only be special summoned from your Fusion Deck by sending the two mentioned monsters from your side of the field to the graveyard. When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, depending on the Attribute of the destroyed monster, activate one of the following effects:

FIRE or WATER: Destroy all face up monsters on your opponent's side of the field (When this effect is activated, end the Battle Phase).

EARTH or WIND: Send all face down spell and trap cards on the field to the graveyard. During the turn this effect is used, you cannot set cards during your Main Phase 2.

LIGHT or DARK: Select one card on the field and destroy it. (This effect cannot be negated).

**Description:** A large robotic version of Goe Goe the gallant, complete with a golden pipe-shaped staff.

**Ninja Field Agent / Dark / LV. 2 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 800 / Warrior/Effect:** When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, you may add one 'Ninja' monster card from your deck to your hand.

**Description:** into a young ninja dressed in leaf green garb with a flag in his hands

**Sleepy Sheep Ninja / Wind / LV. 1 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Beast/Tuner:** When your opponent declares an attack against a face up 'Ninja' monster you control, you may discard this card from your hand to negate the attack and end the battle phase. After this effect is used, if during your next Draw Phase you have a face up 'Ninja' monster on your side of the field, you may add this card to your hand instead of drawing (this effect can only be used once per duel).

**Description:** a large, yet familiar puffy, blue wool sheep dressed in ninja garb

**Ninjitsu Dragon – Seiryu / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 2000 / Dragon/Synchro/Effect:** [1 Tuner Monster + 2 or more non-Tuner monsters] This card is considered to have 'Ninja' in its name. If you have fewer cards in your hand than your opponent, this card gains 700 ATK. If this card destroys a monster as a result of battle and sends it to the graveyard, your opponent must discard one card from their hand.

**Description:** a blue scaled, dragonoid human dressed in black and silver ninja robes with azure armor covering its shoulders, waist and legs. The dragon looked to be one of the serpentine type with long white hair and two long whiskers,

**Speed Spell – Flat Tire / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** This card can only be activated while you have 3 or more Speed Counters on your Speed World. Select one monster on the field, for each Speed Counter you have, lower its ATK and DEF by 200 points.

**Image:** A race car driver tearing up at the sight of one of his tires on his race car losing air

**Speed Spell – Rocket Booster / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** This card can only be activated when you have 5 or more Speed Counters on your Speed World. Select one monster on the field that has had its attack negated this turn – The selected monster gains 250 ATK x the number of Speed Counters you have and can attack once more this turn. During the end phase of the turn this effect was used, destroy the selected monster.

**Image:** Two rockets strapped to the back of the Perfect Machine King

**Dragon's Den of Greed / Continuous Trap / Effect:** Whenever a Dragon-Type monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, place one 'Greed Counter' on this card (max. 2). During your main phase, you may send this card to the graveyard to draw one card from your deck for each 'Greed Counter' that was on this card.

**Image:** A large dragon sleeping atop of a large amount of gold.

**Yin-Yang Dragoon / Dark / LV. 9 / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2300 / Dragon/Synchro/Effect: **[1 Dragon-type Tuner monster + 1 or more DARK monsters + 1 or more LIGHT monsters] This card can only be special summoned by Synchro Summon or by its own effect. Once per turn, you may remove one LIGHT and one DARK monster from your graveyard in order to destroy all cards on the field. During the end phase of the turn this card was destroyed by its own effect, special summon this card from your graveyard.

**Description:** a sleek woman-shaped dragon that was covered with light black and white armor with long silver hair that billowed backwards between an angelic wing and a demonic bat wing.

**TTTTTTT**

_**Standby for the next episode!**_

_**Mystery surrounds this grand city, but that doesn't stop a father from performing his fatherly duties.**_

_**But even something as innocent as that can be tarnished by the sins of another.**_

_**And even though this Shadowchaser has appeared, he has yet to reveal his face…**_

_**Will he reveal his face in his fight? Or will he suffer a worse fate?**_

_**Next time on Dark City Chronicles!**_

_**Draw 4 **_

_**Thunder of Ruler**_


	5. Draw 4: Thunder of Ruler

_**A man can be many things, sometimes its terms of endearment, other times they can be curses. Some of the best things a man can be called are brave, strong, and proud while some of the worst things are coward, weak and envious. **_

_**Things like this cannot be earned with words alone, but rather through the actions that a man must take through out his life. Depending on what choices they make, they can become a man worthy of respect or one who will disappear into the shadows.**_

_**There's a saying that I take to heart – A man's job is eighty percent decision making, and the rest is just a bonus. **_

_**Sometimes the decisions a man makes are good for him but bad for others, the opposite holds, that a man's decisions can be bad for him but good for others. I like to think that I make a good portion of both, helping myself and others.**_

_**Of course, its easy to say that, heck, if you're reading this now, you're probably wondering what kind of man I really am… Well…**_

_**How about I show you?**_

_**TTTTTTT**_

_**Draw 4**_

_**Thunder of Ruler**_

_**TTTTTTTTT**_

_Time: 1:15 p.m._

_Location: Grogg's Office, BackDraft Corps Base, ?_

A loud yawn echoed through the air as Grogg slowly pushed himself off of the couch, his hair was a terrible mess and his clothes were completely ruffled. "Man, I really needed that nap."

Looking around the room, Grogg sighed loudly. '_Of course there's no one else here. I ordered most of the men to look for that smoking son-va-bitch and to let me get some sleep…'_

The room still looked the same as it did when Grogg had fallen asleep – all of the artwork was in place, the television was still off, and there was even the fact that his clothes were thrown about. '_I know I didn't touch the booze last night, but I still feel like I got a hangover – Must've been that punch to the head.'_

Slowly Grogg stood up from the couch and cracked his neck a few times, "Last night was terrible – All those D-Wheels we collected, gone! In the blink of an eye! Once I get my hands on that old fart I'm gonna…"

"Are you always this violent when you wake up?"

Grogg jumped high into the air, and fell to the couch again when he heard that voice. When he got over the initial shock, Grogg quickly looked around the room trying to find the source of that voice. It didn't take him long to find the culprit in his office, but whoever it was, they had their back to Grogg as they looked at the fine art that lined the shelves of the office. "I'm quite surprised that you'd keep a collection of this nature in your grasp Grogg – I never realized that you were into foreign and ancient collectables."

"Oh, it's you," Grogg grumbled as he stood up from the couch a second time, his eyes zeroed in on the back of the head of the intruder. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"It's rather easy to enter anywhere you please if the door is unlocked," the man answered, not bothering to turn away from the small statues he was admiring. "You should look into investing in a few of those."

"Oh," Grogg chuckled sheepishly with his eyes closed. "But, what the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"… Must you take that vulgar tone with me?" the man retorted as he turned his attention towards the wall scrolls. "I swear, the vulgarity of your voice is enough to taint these fine works of the past."

"First off, Raiden's the collector of antiques!" Grogg spat back. "I like stuff like motorcycles and things that are a bit more durable! The only reason I got this stuff here is in spite of Raiden himself!"

"What a shame then," the man sighed as he slowly turned around. "I was actually beginning to hope that you and I could share a decent conversation concerning similar interests that didn't include business transactions. Oh well."

The man in question was an odd person to say the least, he was dressed in a dark blue business suit that had seen better days, with a few tears and rips at random places. He was also wearing a pair of bulky black gloves over his hands (which seemed to have a pair of strange ruins in the shape of wings) and a long white scarf that he had wrapped around his neck and mouth that ended in more colorful fabric (and like the gloves, they had strange runes sewed into the fabric).

The only portion of the man's body that wasn't covered by an article of clothing was his eyes, forehead and hair – His hair was a rich auburn that was styled backwards into wing-like motions and his eyes were an odd yellow color, but those were easily disregarded by the large tattoo he had covering his eyes, which also resembled that of some runic wings. "Business related it shall be."

"Why don't you deal with my brother then?" Grogg growled back at the tattooed man. "If you wanted to talk about ancient crap that was buried in the ground a long time ago, you two would be able to create enough hot air to heat the entire city."

"As enjoyable as that may be," the tattooed man sighed loudly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Business is business, and we have business to deal with you. You happen to have a member on your side of the gang who's talents interest us, and you and your brother owe me and my associates a decent amount of debt to us if I recall correctly.

"I wonder, what would happen if our generous contributions were to cease and desist while you and your brother were having this terrible quarrel?"

Grogg lowered his head slightly with a loud sigh echoing through the air. "Fine, who did you have in mind?"

"If my information is correct," the tattooed man coughed a few times. "Then you happen to have a young lass who is quite potent in the arts of magic, more specifically the art of…"

"I know who you're referring to," Grogg replied. "Alright, alright, what do you need her for and when do you need her?"

"The way you say it," the tattooed man sighed loudly. "Never mind, to tell you, our plans have been pushed up our schedule due to a few interesting events – I shall require her assistance by the end of the week. Now, I can assume that she has the abilities that I've inquired about earlier correctly?"

"You'd have to ask her yourself," Grogg answered with a crooked smile. "There's only one girl that I'd like to know more about and…"

The tattooed man lifted his hand up in front of Grogg's face, silencing the mountain of a man, "Save your vulgar and erotic thoughts for some one who cares."

"I wasn't going to say anything erotic!" Grogg snapped with a blood vessel appearing on the side of his head. "All I was gonna say was…"

"Once again, save it," the tattooed man interrupted once again with his hand held up. "I would like to request that you have your employee contact me within the next day so that we can work out all of the details. I trust you have my contact information to give to her."

"Yeah, yeah," Grogg muttered out loud. "Whatever man. Hey, you wanna… I dunno, wanna hang out for a little bit? I got some beer in the fridge and I got the latest gaming system."

"Odd, from your earlier words," the tattooed man pointed out. "I would've figured that you detested me."

"You're better than just hanging around this dump alone all day," Grogg admitted with a dulled over look in his eyes.

"How flattering," the tattooed man stated flatly. "As tempting as your offer sounds, I do have some other matters to attend to, I have a book being delivered to my office later this day and I know that the delivery service that I hired to pick up said book does not like to be made waiting.

"I get fined an additional fee if I'm not there to receive my package. And after that, I have a party to attend to, invitational only."

And with that, the tattooed man began to walk away, leaving Grogg to stand there with a puzzled look on his face. And when the door was opened and then quickly closed behind the tattooed man's back. "I gotta get some smarter friends, but not too smart… That guy's a total dork."

"I heard that!"

Grogg's eyes bugged out slightly when he heard that.

**TTTTT**

_Meanwhile…_

While Taiga's duel was winding down, Irving had placed a number of files in front of Hyde on the table in front of him. "There ya go, all incidents pertaining to victims being found with the conditions you requested."

Hyde nodded as he pushed his cigarette into the emptied coffee mug that he had, "I appreciate that…"

However, Hyde noticed that Irving's gloved hand hadn't left the pile of files, "Let me guess, there's a catch right?"

"You catch on quickly," Irving stated with a nod. "I like to see that in Shadowchasers, always looking beyond the surface and looking outside the box. Yeah, there's something that'd like in return – You're a seasoned Shadowchaser, correct?"

"If you call three years being seasoned," Hyde answered with a roll of his eyes.

"But there's more to you than that," Irving chuckled loudly.

"Yeah, I was a NYC detective for a few years," Hyde continued as he sat back in his seat. "And after I left Las Vegas, I did some freelance work while I did some soul searching, mostly sleuth work."

"Still, after I saw ya knock the stuffing out Grogg last night," Irving pointed out. "You've got physical abilities as well – In any case, I've heard some good stuff from Barron about you, how you managed to save your whole team from becoming dolls, helping to solve the mysteries of Las Vegas, and even facing off against a large number of Living Masquerades on your own.

"Heck, I've see what ya can do first hand – So, my request is simple, I'd like you to help out with this team of misfits."

"What?" Hyde questioned.

"Now hear me out," Irving stated with his hands lifted up. "Hardin may have a good head on her shoulders, but with Kuroi still hiding in his shell, and with Taiga practically a loose cannon, its going to be tough to make this team function. I've been trying my best to do so, but even I can't teach them right ways of being a Shadowchaser and deal with the BackDraft Corps."

"You could always try requesting Jalal for some new members here" Hyde pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "If the team isn't functioning all that well together, then it might be a good idea to get them into a new environment."

"True, but that won't solve the problem at hand," Irving retorted. "They'll still have their own personal problems and will drag down their teams – You know what they say, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I consider them all to be rather promising Shadowchasers, but they need refinement.

"So, I ask you for your help in this matter – Help me fine tune this team into one of the best around!"

Hyde scoffed to the side as he pulled out a second cigarette from his pocket and tossed it into his mouth. "… And I'll get the files in return?"

"That and any other help that this team can provide," Irving stated. "If these crimes are truly related and perpetrated by the same person, then as Shadowchasers of New York City, we cannot allow such a criminal to run free along our streets."

Taking another drag on his cigarette, Hyde sighed loudly with smoke seeping from his mouth, "… Fine. It's a deal."

"Excellent!" Irving laughed loudly with his upper body visibly moving with his body. "In that case – Welcome to the team Hyde Vayne!"

"Don't get too used to me," Hyde stated as he held up his cigarette up with his fingers. "I don't intend to stay here forever."

"Understandable," Irving replied. "I myself won't be here forever either… But in any case."

Irving used his foot to push the files towards Hyde and quickly brought his foot down back to the floor. "Hardin will still be here for a while, and I expect Taiga and Kuroi to be back soon, so while we wait for the group to get together, I myself have an errand to take care of."

"Shadowchaser related?" Hyde questioned.

"Nope, family business," Irving answered as he slowly began to head out of the lounge. "I need to pick up a birthday present for one of my kids, and she loves books so I'm going to buy her some books she's been wanting for a while."

Hyde blinked a few times with a shrug as he watched Irving walk out of the lounge, but shrugged it off as he turned his attention towards the files. "Good luck with that."

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 2:24 p.m. _

_Location: Corner Bookstore, Manhattan_

It was a quiet day in this quaint little book, and despite it being the end of the week, the store was actually bare. The only person who was amongst the literature was a tired looking man with feathery graying hair, a long nose and was dressed in a gray work suit. He had his long nose poked in a copy of 'A Tale of Two Cities', his eyes zeroed in on the small print.

However, he quickly pulled his attention towards the watch that he had on his wrist. It was still only twenty-four minutes after two, and he clicked his tongue against the inside of his teeth. '_It's almost time, where the hell is that delivery service? The longer I have the goods here, the more I feel my sanity starting to slip!'_

From his watch, the shopkeeper turned his attention to the bookshelf behind him, his eyes falling down on a certain red covered book that was sitting on the shelf. The shopkeeper could hear his heartbeat getting louder and louder as he continued to eye the strange book. Then with a shake of his head, the shopkeeper returned to his book, '_Seriously, why did I get wrapped up in this sort of thing? I didn't even know we had a book like that hidden away, and when I find it, I'm forced to do this sort of thing!_

'_Not that it matters, soon, very soon, it'll be out of my hair and I can get back to my normal job.'_

It was at that very moment that the door to the shop opened up, with the bell over the door ringing to signify that someone was entering the shop. '_Oh thank god! Maybe this is the delivery guy!'_

Well, if you were reading this story, then you'd realize that the guy who was wearing a silver overcoat and black fedora that was used to cover up his face was none other than Irving himself. But to the shopkeeper, he thought that this might've been the man he was waiting for.

Heck, the guy looked freakish enough to pick up this book, so the shopkeeper slammed his book shut and lifted his hand up, "Ah! Good morning!"

"Its afternoon," Irving pointed out as he walked up to the counter in the bookstore. "Not that it matters, I'd like to buy a few books please."

'_T-That's not the message I needed to hear,'_ the shopkeeper thought to himself as he quickly looked at his watch – _2:25 p.m._ "Uh, well, I'm afraid we don't have any in at the moment."

Irving looked around the store and tilted his head slightly, "What?"

"We don't have any books in here," the shopkeeper answered back with a sheepish smile on his face. "Good morning!"

"Then what are all those?" Irving questioned as he pointed towards the books behind the shopkeeper.

"All what? Oh! All these!" The shopkeeper yelped with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. "These, uh, these, uh, these are all books."

"I can see that," Irving stated.

"These were uh," the shopkeeper stuttered. "These were all, all sold! Yeah! They were all sold! Yes! None of them are in an unsold state! Good morning!"

"Who were they sold to?" Irving questioned.

"Oh, various people, they were, phew," the shopkeeper cackled as he looked at his watch and gulped. Then with a swift moment, the shopkeeper walked around the counter and threw his arm around Irving's shoulders and proceeded to guide the Shadowchaser towards the door. "Oh my, would you look at that? Its time for lunch! I must really be closing the shop so that I can quell this hunger that I have!"

"But it's almost two-thirty," Irving stated as the shopkeeper continued to push the Shadowchaser towards the door.

"Yes, but I'm still puckish, and I don't expect to open this shop again for today!" the shopkeeper admitted as he opened the door and pointed towards some of the other shops on the street. "Oh look! There's another bookshop across the street that's open! I'm pretty sure they've got a wide selection and have ridiculously low prices, just across the road there! Good morning!"

"But I was told to come here," Irving said.

At that moment, the shopkeeper ushered Irving back into the shop with a deadly serious look on his face. "You were? I see… Hmm."

Clearing his throat, the shopkeeper spoke clearly. "I hear the Giants are doing well this year, and so are the Falcons."

Irving noted that the shopkeeper was winking at him, "I'm sorry?"

"Er, oh, I was just saying," the shopkeeper coughed again trying to gather his composure. "What I think about the recent sports. I hear that the Giants are doing well this year, and so are the _FALCONS._"

"Indeed they are," Irving replied.

There was a small moment of awkward silence in the bookstore until the shopkeeper spoke out again, "Aren't you going to say something like, 'indeed they are, but the Condor gets his at the full moon tonight'?"

"No," Irving admitted.

"Oh! Ah, good morning!" the shopkeeper chuckled sheepishly as he looked at his watch again – 2:27 p.m. "Wait, who sent you?"

"Some guy with a bird tattooed on his face," Irving explained as he used his show where. "He was in that bookshop across the street, and he told me that the book that I'm looking for is in here."

"He wasn't dressed in a blue suit that's seen better days, was he?" the shopkeeper asked.

"No," Irving stated flatly again. "Look, I've been searching for a while, so can we…"

"Or course not, I was thinking of someone else," the shopkeeper laughed sheepishly. "Good morning!"

"Wait a minute," Irving stated with his gaze narrowed down at the shopkeeper. "There's something going on here."

"What, where?" the shopkeeper yelped. "You didn't see anything did you?"

"No," Irving said quickly. "But I think there's something going on here."

"No, no, well, there's nothing going on here at all," the shopkeeper coughed out before he shouted out. "And he didn't see anything!"

"There is something going on," Irving growled with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Look, there is nothing going on," the shopkeeper advised. "Please believe me, there is abso…"

For a moment the shopkeeper stopped speaking when he realized that a pair of muscular arms slowly began to creep around Irving's neck, almost getting close enough to choke the mysterious Shadowchaser. However, the shopkeeper quickly waved it away while trying to keep Irving's attention, "… lu-lu-lutely nothing going on!"

A little curious Irving looked to where the shopkeeper was waving at, but at the last second the arms pulled away and disappeared. "Hmm?"

"Is there anything going on?" the shopkeeper called out.

That's when another man stepped out from the backroom of the store, this one dressed in all black with a bushy black beard on his face, although, what really stood out was the fact that he had a machinegun in his hands. "No, there's going on."

The bearded man quickly disappeared back into the backroom with Irving jumping slightly, "Who was that?"

"M-My aunt!" the shopkeeper yelped as he quickly scurried behind the counter. "Uh, look, what were the books that you wanted? I'm sure we've got what ya need!"

Irving placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, '_I feel like I'm going to regret this, but, what the heck can go wrong?'_

"Let's see, I need the newest John Grisham novel, D-Wheel Mechanics for Dummies, and, ooh, what's that red book right there?"

A nervous look appeared on the shopkeeper's face when Irving pointed towards the book that was giving off that weird feeling towards the shopkeeper. "Uh, y-yeah, about that one…"

At that moment, the door to the shop opened up once again with the bell ringing loudly, both Irving and the shopkeeper turned to see that another person entered the store. This person was also dressed weirdly. The person in question was clearly male since they were wearing tight leather pants and a matching black leather jacket that was covered with chains that linked around his entire body. However, the weirdest part of the man's outfit was the helmet that he had over his head, the visor was pitch black while the helmet itself was a dark red that seemed to have a wolf-like design on it, complete with little ears on the top of it.

The man moved his head around until he was leering at the two other men in the shop, but otherwise just stood there. So, Irving shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to the shopkeeper, "Alright, so, how much would that be exactly? I gotta send this stuff out as soon as possible and…"

Irving stopped and immediately threw his right hand up, catching what appeared to be a long scythe that seemed to be made out of a spinal chord and bladed with some dark energy that was only an inch away from Irving's neck. The shopkeeper shrieked before he hid under the desk.

The mysterious leather dressed man was the one who held onto the disgusting scythe, but there was more to the man now that Irving got a good look at him. Dark smoke was pouring out from underneath his helmet and flowed into the scythe, creating the weapon that he grasped tightly in his leather gloves.

Irving cackled loudly as he jumped over to the side, missing the second slash from the leather wearing man's scythe. When Irving got far enough from the leather wearing man and his scythe, he lifted his fists up, "Hmm, I wonder what warranted this… Wait, you wouldn't happen to be that one hot dog vendor I crashed into last week when I was chasing down that were-rat purse snatcher, were you?"

The leather wearing man shook his helmet as he rested the shadowy scythe on his shoulder. Then silently, the man pointed towards the bookshelf behind the counter, more specifically the red book that Irving had his eyes on.

Irving managed to follow along with the leather wearing man's gesture and crossed his arms, "And you were willing to kill me to get your hands on a book? Is that a first edition Harry Potter or something? Or does it have the secrets of eternal youth?"

The leather wearing man shrugged his shoulders but held up his scythe up towards Irving once again. Irving laughed loudly, "If you think your little trick would scare me off, then you're dead wrong! And I'll have you know that assaulting a Shadowchaser is a high offense!

"And thanks to that little stunt of yours, I know you're a Shadowkind! Only question is what kind are you?"

The leather wearing man seemed to sigh as he lifted his other hand to his helmet and tapped the side of the helmet. The helmet slid off from man's body and clattered against the counter, revealing that the man himself didn't have a head!

The shopkeeper had made the mistake to see where the noise came from and yelped loudly before saw the headless man. The shopkeeper moaned loudly before he fainted backwards. The headless man's neck only seemed to have a dark, wispy smoke pouring from his neck that flowed into the scythe.

Irving's eyes narrowed slightly before he pumped his fist up, "Ah, a Dullahan! I haven't seen one of you for ages! How's the Unseelie court going these days?"

For those of you who don't know, a dullahan is a Celtic fey of the Unseelie court, however, unlike most Unseelie, dullahan were actually able to have their own physical bodies. The downside to this however, is the fact that their bodies had their heads decapitated and were forced to carry the dismembered appendages with them.

Irving assumed that the head was resting in the helmet.

The Dullahan merely shrugged his shoulders and waved his free hand around a bit. Then the Dullahan clenched his fist tightly and threw his hand over towards the bookshelf once again.

"I take it you want a book right there," Irving admitted as he adjusted his hat slightly. "I get that books can be a very valuable commodity now-a-days, but that's still no excuse for trying to make me a foot shorter with that weapon of yours."

The Dullahan slumped his shoulders slightly before he used his other hand to reach into his leather jacket's pocket. A second later, the headless fey pulled out a small i-phone with the keypad already slid out. A small stream of dark mist floated towards the device and covered the keypad, and the sound of the typing filled the air.

With one final click, the i-phone began to speak out loud, "I am simply here to retrieve that book. Anyone who gets in the way of my job must be eliminated. Its nothing personal, but I need to deliver that book."

"So, you're just trying to do your job, eh?" Irving replied with a slight laugh. "I can respect that, but still, if you needed to pick up that book then you could've just said… Oh, right."

The Dullahan rested the scythe on his shoulder and allowed the black mist to flow over the i-phone once again. "Ha ha, you're a real cut up. Now, get out of my way before I really do make you a real cut up!"

"If that's the case, then I can't let you walk out of here with that book," Irving chuckled as he brought his arms up clenching his gloved fists. "If you're willing to kill for that book, then it's easy to see that the book is something special. So, let's take this outside!"

Irving immediately charged towards the Dullahan, which prompted the fey to perform a mighty swing of his ghostly scythe. However, with a quick dive, Irving dodged the attack and dove towards the helmet that the Dullahan had discarded.

With a mid-air spin, Irving spun around and tossed the helmet into the Dullahan's chest, making the headless fey stagger backwards. As the helmet flew through the air, Irving took this instance and checked his shoulder into the Dullahan's body, sending the fey flying out the door with his helmet following.

The mysterious Shadowchaser wasn't done, not by a long shot! With his powerful legs, Irving propelled himself out the door right after the Dullahan and ran out into the streets, just in time to see that the Dullahan was staggering to get back to his feet, fitting the helmet over his neck – His scythe was gone, but the dark smog was still flowing from underneath the Dullahan's helmet.

Thankfully when the Dullahan was sent flying out of the store, most of the pedestrians in the street had rushed off, which was good for Irving who now stood in front of the store. "I take it you're still alive."

The Dullahan stood up straight and pulled out the i-phone once again, the smog wrapping around the small handheld. "Don't think that I can easily be defeated, now, stand aside and let me collect that book!"

"No can do, Dullahan," Irving replied as he reached into his overcoat's pocket and pulled out a small metal silver colored device. "Like I said, since you're willing to kill for that book, I can't very well let ya walk away with just like that, now can I?"

The dark smog continued to wrap around the Dullahan's i-phone, "I suppose that means that we have to settle this in the method that your boss prefers."

"Yep! Unless you wanna keep duking it out," Irving stated as he slapped the device to his wrist. "Now, let's take care of this business in the alleyway, I doubt that people would enjoy seeing a duel while they're on their commutes."

The Dullahan moved his helmet left and right, noticing that people were starting to return to their daily lives, "Agreed."

~ A few moments later…~

"This is perfect," Irving chuckled as he stood at the end of the alleyway while the Dullahan was standing at the other end (which was cut off by a tall chain link fence). "A little dirty, but this will make a fine stage, wouldn't you agree?"

The Dullahan lifted up his i-phone up to his left arm, allowing the dark mist to flow over his arm and phone. After a few seconds, the mist pulled back slightly, revealing a pitch black duel disk that had the i-phone set in the center of it with some of the black mist covering some of the device. "We're surrounded by trash – This isn't an appropriate stage at all. So let's just get this over with."

"Well, if you're that eager," Irving chuckled as the device on his arm began to unfold, forming into a pure silver-colored duel disk that has shown it's had its share of cuts and nicks on it. Irving reached into his other pocket, pulled out a deck of duel monster cards and quickly slipped the cards into his duel disk. "Then who am I to say no?" (ILP: 8000)

The Dullahan pulled off the top six cards from its deck and fanned the cards in front of his helmet, "Then I'll start." (DLP: 8000)

"Go for it," Irving stated as he looked over the cards in his hand. '_Hmm, not bad, but still, not too good either.'_

"One monster set," The Dullahan announced as the set monster appeared in front of his duel disk. "And one card set, turn end!"

As the face down card appeared in front of the headless fey, Irving plucked the top card from his deck and nodded at the card. "Well then, if you're not going to start us off with a blast, then I'll kick start us up into a fiery battle of wits and strength! Draw!"

"… You seem a little too into this," the Dullahan's i-phone spoke as Irving spun the card in between his fingers.

"And why shouldn't I be?" Irving countered as he slipped a card into his duel disk, making a set card appeared in front of him. "I love my job, and this comes with the job! I set one card face down, and then I'll summon Thunder Brawler in attack mode!"

The ground in front of the weirdly clothed Shadowchaser began to spark wildly, immediately allowing a dark skinned man to step onto the field with long wild blonde hair that flowed over his muscular body. The man was dressed in what appeared to be a ripped black martial artist gi, and all around his body was a large amount of electrical energy.

The man's eyes opened and he yelled out loudly (1500/1000) as he threw his arms to the side.

"That's a new one," The Dullahan pointed out.

"I gotta be able to keep up with my team," Irving laughed loudly. "But in any case, I promised you a big show, and you're going to get it! Thunder Brawler! Smash his face down card!"

The large electrified man roared loudly once more as he leapt through the air and spun through the air. When the Brawler was about to fall into the face down monster, the electrified man stuck his leg out and slammed his foot into the face down card, which revealed a decomposing goblin that screeched in pain as the foot slammed in between its shoulder and neck (1100/1050).

Gravity did its job and dropped the decayed goblin to the ground with a loud smack, which shattered the monster into millions of pixels that flew through the air. "Interesting, so you just blindly rushed forward with your attack, well, it will cost you. The monster you just destroyed was Goblin Zombie – And when sent from the field to the graveyard, one low powered zombie gets added to my hand.

"And the monster of choice is the Skull Servant monster card!"

"Oh ho?" Irving questioned as he lifted his duel disk near his hand. "I see, you're using zombies, and a Skull Servant deck at that. I can assume that we'll be seeing the king here soon as well, right? Oh yeah, there was this one Shadowcahser that runs a Skull Servant deck – Skull Rush and Skull Mill, quite the deadly combination.

"Guy's not too lively, but he's still a decent guy…"

"Never assume anything," The Dullahan retorted as he added the card to his hand.

"Right, speaking of special abilities," Irving announced as he plucked the top card from his deck and placed the card into his hand. "Thunder Brawler's got one that's not too shy! When he destroys a monster in battle, I can draw another card from my deck!"

Looking at the card he just drew, Irving nodded to himself. "And for that, I shall end my turn."

"Very well, then let's continue this," The Dullahan announced as he pulled off another card into his hand, giving him six cards to work with. "And now, I play the spell card – Fusion Sage. Now, I can add one Polymerization from my deck to my hand!"

"That's a rather old card," Irving admitted as the Dullahan pulled the deck of cards from his duel disk and pulled the selected card from his deck to his hand. "Most duelists now-a-days use King of the Swamp when they run fusion."

"It would only hurt this deck," The Dullahan explained as he lifted up three of the cards from his hand. "Now, before I play my next card, if you make one wisecrack or bad pun I will walk over the field and smack you upside the head."

"What?" Irving questioned with his head tilted slightly.

"Polymerization activates!" The Dullahan announced as a powerful vortex popped over the field. "I surrender Skull Servant and Nightmare Horse to the graveyard in order to fuse them together!"

The infamous purple clothed skeleton and mummified spirit horse appeared in front of the vortex before they were drawn into the vortex, swirling and combining them together. "So, arise!"

The vortex shattered, which unleashed a tall and daunting monster on the field in front the Dullahan, this one was a black clothed warrior with clothing that was from the colonial ages with a long cloak that billowed from its shoulders. The monster in question was also atop of beautiful black steed and was holding onto a long rapier.

However, the most daunting feature of the monster was the fact that the monster had no head (800/1200)! "Headless Horseman!"

"Must… Resist… Making… Joke," Irving struggled to speak while holding in his laughter.

"… That's almost as bad," The Dullahan growled loudly with his i-phone. "And I was planning to hold this back, but screw that! I play the continuous spell card – Leading Question!"

The spell card appeared behind the Headless Horseman, the spell depicted the Dark Ruler Ha Des slamming his fist into a desk that had a small ragged human shaking in fear. "Now, when a level four or lower fusion monster with exactly two fusion components attacks, it gains eight hundred attack points when it attacks!

"And to make things more interesting, if I possess a Skull Servant in my graveyard, my Headless Horseman can attack you directly!"

"I see, so you're going to strike me down with a direct attack, right?" Irving questioned with his arms crossed. "Hmm, it's a pretty unique strategy…"

"Save your compliments," the Dullahan typed. "Anyone would know the downfall to attacking you directly, however, that doesn't mean that I can't defeat your monster and inflict damage at the same time! 

"Headless Horseman! Attack him directly!"

The Headless Horseman drew his rapier and forced the horse to gallop forward. The Horseman immediately slashed downwards on Irving's shoulder. Even though the attack went through with no problems, Irving didn't move a muscle. (ILP: 6400)

"And now for your monster!" The Dullahan announced as he lifted up another card from his three card hand. "I play Battle Bomber!"

As the spell card appeared on the field, a loud excited cry echoed through the air, accompanied by a loud whistling sound. Irving looked up and stepped back at the sight that fell at a great speed towards the ground. "Is, is that MAJOR KONG!"

The item that fell from the sky was a large bomb that had weird military man riding atop of the bomb with a cowboy hat being waved about in his hand. The Thunder Brawler's jaw dropped when the bomb dropped on him, which of course made a powerful explosion that made Irving stagger backwards. "URK!"

"As you can see, my spell card destroyed your monster," The Dullahan explained as he fitted the card into his duel disk's graveyard slot. "But to destroy it, I have to inflict battle damage to your life points. Then one monster on the field gets destroyed if their defense is equal to or lower than the damage you took."

"Hmm, an interesting card," Irving stated as he rubbed his covered chin. "I was always a fan of that movie, and that card might be a good addition to add to this deck here. It certainly would make my duels a lot more interesting – Especially, if I'm facing a Shadowkind that's out to steal people's bodily fluids!"

"What?" The Dullahan questioned.

"… You played the card that had Major Kong," Irving sighed loudly. "Yet you don't get the reference? That's just sad."

"What's sad is that you're losing so badly now," The Dullahan replied as he looked at the last two cards in his hand. "Turn end."

"Don't assume I'm losing," Irving retorted as he drew from the top of his deck, and held the card up. "Besides, any duel can turn in a second. Now watch! I summon Wattpheasant!"

Another spark of electricity surged out onto the field, which formed into a small, rainbow feathered pheasant that flew about the air over Irving's head (1000/800) with static induced feathers. "I'm willing to bet you know what this little guy can do, like your monster, my pheasant can attack you directly!"

The Wattpheasant screeched loudly before it flew high into the air in the alleyway. With a spin, the Wattpheasant flapped its wings and shot several electrically charged feathers at the Dullahan.

The headless fey brought up his left arm and blocked the feathers, but the attack still did the damage. (DLP: 7000)

"And when this bird sends your life points flying," Irving stated as a powerful surge of electricity erupted over the Headless Horseman, which made the horse neigh out of pain loudly. "One of your monsters ditches the field! And since you've only got one, then I'll give you three guesses as to who I'm choosing!"

In a flash of light, the Headless Horseman disappeared with a few falling sparks.

"You do realize my monster returns the moment you end your turn, right?" The Dullahan typed back.

"I know, but still, I just enjoy using my monster's effect," Irving chuckled as he crossed his arms. "So, I'll end my turn, so your monster returns."

Indeed, the Headless Horseman reappeared on the street as the Dullahan pulled off the next card from his deck, "Draw, and then I play the spell card – Spellbook Inside the Pot. Now, both of us draw three more cards."

"Hmm, eight cards, that's not the most I've had in my hand at a time," Irving admitted as he plucked the cards off the top of his deck. "But I can make it work."

"Think again," The Dullahan stated as he spun around another card in his now five card hand. "Spell card activates – Card Destruction!"

"Ah, you've been holding that card for a while," Irving chuckled as he slipped the eight cards into his duel disk's graveyard slot, while at the same time he took eight more cards and drew them from the top of his deck. "Trying to deck me out as well?"

"Not essentially," the Dullahan retorted as his face down card lifted up. "Now for my trap card, Disgraceful Charity! Now, both of us add the cards we just discarded to our graveyards back to our hands!"

"Hmm," Irving stated as he plucked the eight cards from the graveyard while the Dullahan now had eight cards in his hand. "Sixteen cards, that's practically a good chunk of my deck."

"Now! Headless Horseman! Direct attack!" The Dullahan commanded as the horse of the headless monster neighed loudly.

As the horse galloped towards Irving, going past the Wattpheasant.

However, Irving brought up his duel disk and slapped a card onto his duel disk, allowing a loud chime sound to echo throughout the alleyway, making the Headless Horseman stagger backwards as a demonic chime appeared in front of Irving (0/0). "Sorry, but Battle Fader stops your attack dead in your tracks."

"And here I thought you were running pure electricity," The Dullahan stated as he lifted three cards from his hand and slid them into his duel disk, which made them appear behind his Headless Horseman.

"I do," Irving stated with a smirk. "That's why Battle Fader's an awesome card, any deck that's trying to keep with a single type can use this since it removes itself from play when it leaves the field. But in any case, I'm surprised you haven't drawn another monster yet."

"Turn end," The Dullahan retorted.

"Alright, then my move!" Irving announced as he pulled off the top card of his deck, giving him seventeen cards in his hand.

"And its at this time that I activate my trap card!" The Dullahan announced as one of his three face down cards flipped up, revealing the Goblin of Greed freaking out with several words flying around the goblin's body. "Heavy Slump! Now, all the cards in your hand get added to your deck, and you get to draw two cards!"

For a moment Irving was silent, until…

"WHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was an awesome move!" Irving laughed loudly as he fitted the seventeen cards atop of his deck. "I haven't seen a move like that in ages! Bravo!"

The Dullahan's helmet tilted slightly as Irving shuffled the deck quickly, "What the hell? What is wrong with you?"

"I enjoy my job," Irving stated as he lifted up two cards from his deck and nodded at the cards. "Now, I summon Wattsquirrel!"

As Irving slapped the card onto his duel disk, another jolt of electricity crackled onto the concrete. The electricity transformed into a small red and light yellow furred squirrel that had electrical symbols plastered over its body and static charging over its form (700/100). "And now – Wattpheasant! Attack him directly!"

For a second time, the electrical pheasant flew towards the Dullahan, however just as the bird was about to attack, a powerful barrier erupted over the Dullahan, which blocked the pheasant's attack. "And I play my Defense Draw trap card, so your attack is useless, and lets me draw another card from my deck."

'_He's searching for something,'_ Irving thought as he looked at the last card in his hand, an odd monster card that didn't fit his deck either. "I'm done."

"In more ways then one," The Dullahan explained as he drew from the top of his decks. "Now, watch! The first spell card of this turn is Fusion Recovery – So, Skull Servant and Polymerization return to my hand!"

'_But his monster loses its direct attack effect,'_ Irving thought with his head lowered slightly. '_Then again, I'm pretty sure that he's going to perform another fusion…'_

"Now, another spell card!" the Dullahan announced as he fitted the card into his duel disk, and when the card materialized the card depicted several ghosts of famous monsters wandering the ragged halls of a haunted house. "Ghostly Afterimage! Now, once per turn, by discarding one card from my hand, this spell card allows me to create one of three tokens.

"So, to start off I'll discard Mezuki to create a Battle Warrior Ghost Token!"

As the Dullahan slipped the card into his duel disk's graveyard, the spell created a tall and daunting ghostly monster that was dressed in a blue battle suit that hugged his muscular body (700/1000), the monster was devoid of emotion or even life. "The best part of this token is that it's treated as Battle Warrior. Meaning I can play Polymerization to fuse it and my Skull Servant!"

Once again, the powerful vortex appeared absorbing the Battle Warrior and the materialized Skull Servant. A few second passed before the vortex shattered and created a large skeletal warrior wielding a crooked sword and shield (1200/900). "Zombie Warrior arises!"

"Huh, ya know, this is the first time I've seen one of these here," Irving admitted as the Dullahan looked at the last few cards in his hand. "I never knew they released that card to the U.S."

"They didn't," Dullahan retorted as he crossed his arms. "I had to order this card straight from Japan, luckily this little gadget I have is a translator as well, and I can easily read the text on this card.

"But that's not important, what is important is that my Zombie Warrior is affected by my Leading Question, so, he can gain eight hundred more attack points, more than a match for either of your monsters."

"True, so, I'll play my trap card," Irving stated as his face down card lifted up, revealing several Batterymen grinding on phone-lines. "Static Pulse! Now, I discard one card from my hand."

And Irving did so, which made his trap card disappear.

"… And?" the Dullahan asked.

"And, that's it," Irving laughed with his chest visibly rising and falling with his laughter.

The Dullahan staggered slightly as he pumped his fist towards Irving, "You sonva… I wasn't going to do this, but you're just too stupid! I play the spell card, Solidarity! So, since I've only got zombies in the graveyard, all my zombies out on the field gain eight hundred more attack points!"

As the spell card appeared on the field, both of the Dullahan's fusion zombies glowed with a dark aura (800/1000 + 800/0) (1200/900 + 800/0), which made both of the zombies cry out loudly.

"I had a feeling you'd have a few copies of that card in your deck," Irving admitted as he rubbed his covered chin. "So, a pure grade zombie deck? Albeit, it's a related to fusion monsters, which is a rarity in the zombie community of duel monsters since more recently they now focus on Synchro summoning now-a-days. Another point of this is…"

"Shut up!" The Dullahan's i-phone snapped at Irving as the Dullahan threw his hand forward, making the Headless Horseman draw his rapier once again (1600/1000 + 800/0). "Headless Horseman! Slay his life points!"

The Headless Horseman galloped towards Irving at high speed, and prepared to stab Irving with the rapier. However, just as the thin sword was about to make contact with the Shadowchaser's body, a barrier of electricity caught the attack and propelled the horseman back to the Dullahan's field. "What? But how! Your face down card shouldn't have done anything!"

"It didn't," Irving explained as he pulled a card from his graveyard slot. "But the card I discarded was another matter. It was known as Electromagnetic Turtle, and by removing this monster from my graveyard, the battle phase ends. So, yeah, no attacking for you this turn."

"You're so insufferable," the Dullahan stated as he crossed his arms. "Although, with only those three monsters on your field, I doubt that you'll cause too much damage."

"Are you underestimating me?" Irving questioned as he drew from the top of his deck. "You'll find out my friend that you should never underestimate an opponent – And I'm about to show you why!

"I activate the second effect of Static Pulse! When my next standby phase after I activate the card comes, I add a Thunder-type monster from my deck to my hand. And I choose Thunder Knight!"

The card shot out from Irving's deck and he slapped the card onto his duel disk, "But it's not staying there! I summon Thunder Knight!"

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and crashed into the ground directly in front of Irving. The lightning seemed to stand still before it shattered into a well dressed gold and white armored knight with a long flowing red cape and a long spear that was tipped with a lightning bolt shaped blade (1300/1200).

The knight spun the spear in its hands before a powerful surge of electricity erupted over the warrior's body (1300/1200 + 1200/0). "And the best part of this guy, for each thunder monster on the field, he gains four hundred attack points! And since there are three, he's turned into a powerhouse!

"So, Thunder Knight! Slice the Headless Horseman down to size!"

The empowered, electrified knight leapt high into the air and immediately brought down his spear down on the horseman, which sliced the zombie in two and shattered both the monster and horse into several shards. (DLP: 5200)

"Impressive, but all for naught," The Dullahan explained as a ghostly arm erupted from the ground. "For you see, my horseman has another ability, one that doesn't require a Skull Servant in the graveyard to use. Should it be destroyed in battle, I can summon on level four or lower zombie from my graveyard, other than the headless horseman himself. 

"So, I'll bring out Goblin Zombie once more!"

The ground erupted to unleash the decayed goblin out onto the field once again (1100/1050 + 800/0). However, Irving just laughed loudly, "Nice trick, but remember, my monster's still have a few tricks of their own as well! Wattpheasant! Attack him directly!"

For the third time, the electrified bird flew over the trash ridden alleyway and fired a volley of electrified feathers that crashed into the Dullahan's torso, which made him stagger backwards. (DLP: 4200)

And once again, a powerful surge of static electricity that made the Zombie Warrior disappear, "Of course, your monster is removed, but I can't take advantage of this. So, I'll have my Wattsquirrel move to defense mode, and set a card face down to end my turn."

The small squirrel crouched down as the face down card appeared on the field, while at the same time, the Zombie Warrior reappeared on the field (2000/900). "That was a waste of time and effort!"

"Maybe, maybe not," Irving stated as he slipped the last card in his hand into his duel disk, making it appear behind his four monsters. "We'll see after you take your next turn."

"Then I'll make this turn one of the worst you'll ever experience!" The Dullahan as he pulled off the top card from his deck. "Because to start off, I'll activate Mezuki's effect! By removing it from the grave, I can special summon the Headless Horseman right back!"

The ground pulled back to reveal the headless, horse-riding zombie back onto the field (800/1000 + 800/0). "Next, I'll summon Malevolent Mech – Goku En!"

A loud screech echoed through the air as a deadly smog-like winged demon materialized onto the field, blue flames erupted from the demon's body. As the demon dug its claws into the ground and roared loudly once again (2400/1400 + 800/0) flames erupted from its chest. "Now, I'll gallop straight into my battle phase! Headless Horseman! Attack him directly!"

The horse neighed loudly before the Headless Horseman (1600/1200 + 800/0) galloped across the alleyway and sliced Irving across the chest once again, however, like before Irving didn't even move a muscle. (ILP: 3800)

"Goblin Zombie! Destroy his Wattsquirrel!"

The decayed goblin charged over the field and stabbed its sword into the cute squirrel, making it explode into millions of sparks that flew around Irving's body. Silently, Irving nodded at the damage. And yet, his Thunder Knight was another story (2500/1200 – 400/0), with some of the electricity surging away from its body. "And with one less Thunder monster, your Thunder Knight gets weaker! So, let's make him weaker! Zombie Warrior! Attack the Wattpheasant!"

The bony warrior (2000/900 + 800/0) staggered over the field, which made the Wattpheasant blink a few times at the skeletal warrior. The Zombie Warrior slashed a few times at the pheasant, however, the pheasant just shook its head and flew away. (ILP: 2000)

And with one less thunder monster on the field, the Thunder Knight knelt down with his lance fallen to the ground (2100/1200 – 400/0). "Now, Goku En! Finish his knight!"

The smoke demon screeched loudly before it unleashed a powerful blue flame that crashed into the Thunder Knight's body, and the flames flew around Irving's body, burning away his life points. (ILP: 500)

"Not to sound clichéd," The Dullahan i-phone stated with his arms crossed. "But I think it's safe to say that you're not going to win."

"Maybe, maybe not," Irving stated as the ghostly flames around his body from Goku En's attack turned a bright gold. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve! Like this one! My trap card activates right now!

"Shock Draw!"

The flames scattered as Irving flicked off the top five cards from his deck allowing him to refresh his entire hand. "For every thousand points of damage I took, I draw a card – So that's five more cards, so I'm still in this!"

The Dullahan stepped back slightly as he looked at the last card in his hand – There was nothing in his hand. But what was he worried about? His opponent only had five hundred life points and only had a Battle Fader on his field – And he had a field full of power houses!

One more attack from the Headless Horseman and he'd have this duel in the bag! "Turn end!"

If Irving's face was visible, it would display a large smirk. "Ya wanna know something? I'm so glad they brought back this old favorite – Heavy Storm!"

The Dullahan staggered backwards as a powerful storm swept over the field and crashed into all of his spells and trap cards, which shattered them into millions of pixels that flew over all of his zombies (800/1200) (2400/1200) (1100/1050) (1200/900).

"Now, for another trick of mine," Irving stated as he lifted up one card from his hand and slid it into his duel disk's graveyard slot. "I summon one of my kids' favorite monsters – Rai-Mei!"

For the umpteenth time this duel, another bolt of electricity crashed in front of Irving, this one forming into a cute young woman dressed in a tight, violet jumpsuit that was embroidered with lightning bolts on it with gauntlets that were charged with electricity. The girl had sharp blue hair that was styled to have two hair tails that looked like lightning bolts (1400/1200). The girl smirked at the Dullahan before she slammed her fists together, which created a wave of sparks that flew over the field.

"Now, before you say that she's too weak to make a difference," Irving stated as he waved up another card from his hand. "I know, but she's still a powerhouse, she just needs a little help, so, I'll activate the effect of Thunder Dragon in my hand, so by discarding him from my hand, I can pull two more from my deck."

As the two cards popped out from his deck, Irving lifted the two cards and another from his hand, "So, since you're a fan of fusion, then you're going to love this! I play Polymerization – So, I'll fuse Rai-Mei with my two Thunder Dragons!"

Two green serpentine dragons appeared on both sides of Rai-Mei, both of them roaring loudly as a powerful, electrified vortex appeared behind all three of Irving's monsters. All three of the electric monsters leapt/flew into the vortex with several sparks that surged from the vortex.

A few moments passed before the vortex shattered like glass to unleash a familiar monster onto the field. The monster that now stood before Irving was definitely a dead ringer for Rai-Mei, only she had her twin-tails become a single lightning bolt shaped hair tail that fell to the ground. She was still wearing her jumpsuit, but over that she was wearing a beautiful light green, short kimono that was embroidered with a pair of familiar dragons that surged electricity. And in the girl's hands were a pair of deep blue fans that sparked with electrical energy (2400/1200) that she waved about a few times in the air.

"What in the world is that?" The Dullahan's i-phone yelped loudly as the owner of said phone staggered back slightly.

"This is Raiden-Mei," Irving introduced as the Raiden-Mei bowed down slightly towards the Dullahan. "A lovely young lass that reminds me of one of my daughters – But this is neither the time nor the place. Now I play the equip spell, Wattcube!"

A large cube of electrical energy appeared behind Raiden-Mei, which made the beautiful woman smirk as a more powerful surge of energy flowed from her body (2400/1200 + 800/0). "And for each Thunder Monster in my graveyard, this equip gives Raiden-Mei one hundred more attack points!

"And now, for the onslaught! Raiden-Mei! Start the assault against the Headless Horseman!"

With her fans held high over her head, Raiden-Mei spun around which created a pair of electrified twisters that sped of the field and crashed into the Headless Horseman. The electrified twisters ripped the horseman from his horse and shattered both beings into millions of pixels. (DLP: 2600)

"I choose to not use its effect this time!" The Dullahan announced as he crossed his arms over his chest. "A good shot, but it won't help next turn."

"How right you are," Irving laughed as he snapped his fingers. "Raiden-Mei! Continue attacking! Your target this time is Zombie Warrior!"

"WHAT?" The Dullahan's i-phone yelped as the electrified girl leapt across the field and slammed her foot into the skeletal monster's chest, which sent the pile of bones flying past the Dullahan's body. "How the hell did you do that?" (DLP: 600)

"A little trick my fusion monster has," Irving explained with a wag of his finger. "You see, she can attack each of your monsters once per turn – So, let's end this!"

The Dullahan's helmet's visor reflected the light that was being produced by Raiden-Mei, and he staggered backwards as the electricity jumped over the walls and towards his body. And, all at once the powerful electrical energy crashed into the Dullahan's Goku En, which in turn sent a large amount of electricity crashing into the Dullahan's body. (DLP: 0)

The Dullahan fell backwards, the force was enough to make the headless fey's helmet fall off and clatter against the ground a few times. As the Dullahan began to sit up straight, Irving slammed his foot into the chest of the Dullahan. "Sorry, but I tend to get a little rough with people who try to kill me, now, I know you can't talk, but for the assault and battery, and the attempted murder of a Shadowchaser, I'm placing you under arrest."

Irving then reached into his overcoat and pulled out the blue crystal that glowed brightly. "But don't worry, I'm not that much of a hard ass. When I file my report, I won't press charges for the attempted beheading – I get that on a regular basis and I've gotten used to it.

"But, I will only do so if you tell the officers who'll interrogate ya – Now, I know you can't talk so just nod to… oh, sorry."

The Dullahan lifted his free hand up and flipped Irving off before the jewel did its job and made the fey disappear. Irving stood up straight and quickly scooped up the Dullahan's helmet. "Just for that little stunt, I'm keeping the helmet as a souvenir…"

**TTTTTTTT**

_Meanwhile, back in the Corner Bookstore…_

"This thing is more trouble than its worth," The shopkeeper moaned loudly as he looked at the weird red book. "I can only hope those two freaky weirdoes only finished each other off…"

At that very moment, the door began to open up, which made the shopkeeper lower his head in shame. '_One can only hope and dream… Who survived?'_

Slowly the shopkeeper turned his head around and was met with the overcoat dressed Irving, his hands firmly placed at his hips and his hat still pulled down to his coat's collar to hide his face. "Hmm, I figured you would've been halfway to Jersey by now."

"Ugh, don't even joke about that," the shopkeeper gagged with his tongue sticking out. "Besides, I'm on duty, I kinda can't leave in the middle of work – Unless the place is on fire or a tornado is coming through the city, I'm obligated to stay here. You freaks may be scary, but my boss's lawyers scare me more."

"Hmm, good to know that the lawyer profession is thriving," Irving chuckled as he crossed his arms. "In any case, we were talking about what books I wanted to buy – I believe it was the newest John Grisham novel, D-Wheeling for Dummies, and I'll be confiscating that red book regardless."

"Aw crap," the shopkeeper moaned loudly as he slammed his head into the counter. "You're with the police, aren't you?"

"I'm affiliated with them," Irving answered as he walked behind the counter and reached for the book. "And you can expect a visit from the force within the hour, I already put in a call after I took care of our biker friend. I remember seeing that guy with the gun earlier… You got a dental conspiracy operating out of here or something?"

The shopkeeper moaned loudly again before slumped to the ground, "I hate my boss…"

Irving didn't pay attention to the shopkeeper's complaints; he had his attention drawn to the red book that he pulled from the shelf. The book itself didn't seem all that important, but it sure was weird – There was a blue rune on the front of the book that had several wrinkles on the cover and the edges seemed to flare out, which showed the true age of the book.

With a moment of hesitation, Irving slowly opened the book and tilted his head slightly, "… It's blank? All of the pages are blank."

Indeed, as Irving flipped through the pages, he just starred at the blank pages, unaware that the wrinkles on the front cover of the book began to shudder until they opened up to reveal a pair of sharp yellow eyes that narrowed down at the gloved hand that was grasping the book.

"Lousy son-va…"

Irving looked up from the book and turned towards the shopkeeper, "Did you just say something?"

"Uh, no?" The shopkeeper yelped as the eyes on the book closed.

Irving shrugged his shoulders as he closed the book and turned it over, '_What sort of book is this that a Dullahan would kill for it? I'll have to get this thing analyzed back at the base…'_

TBC

**TTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Leading Question / Continuous Spell / Effect:** When a level 4 or Lower Fusion Monster you control that lists exactly 2 Fusion Material Monsters attacks, it gains 800 ATK during the Damage Step only.

**Image:** The Dark Ruler Hades slamming his fist into a desk, scaring a ragged human.

_This card was used by Johnson in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime._

**Electromagnetic Turtle / Light / LV. 4 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 1900 / Machine/Effect:** By removing this card from the graveyard, you may end the battle phase during the turn this effect is activated.

**Description:** A large mechanical turtle with the North and South symbols painted on its shell

_This card was used by Yugi in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime._

**Thunder Knight / Light / LV. 4 / ATK: 1300 / DEF: 1200 / Thunder/Effect:** This card gains 400 ATK for each face-up Thunder-Type monster on the field.

**Description:** a well dressed gold and white armored knight with a long flowing red cape and a long spear that was tipped with a lightning bolt shaped blade

_This card was used by Ikazuchimaru in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime._

**Thunder Brawler / Light / LV. 4 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1000 / Thunder/Effect:** When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle and sends it to the graveyard, you may draw one card from your deck.

**Description:** a dark skinned man to step onto the field with long wild blonde hair that flowed over his muscular body. The man was dressed in what appeared to be a ripped black martial artist gi, and all around his body was a large amount of electrical energy.

**Static Pulse / Normal Trap / Effect:** Discard one card from your hand. During your next stand by phase, you may add one Thunder-Type monster from your deck to your hand.

**Image:** several Batterymen grinding on phone-lines

**Headless Horseman / Dark / LV. 3 / ATK: 800 / DEF: 1200 / Zombie/Fusion/Effect:** [Skull Servant + Nightmare Horse] If you have at least one 'Skull Servant' card in your graveyard, this card can attack your opponent's life points directly. When this card is destroyed as a result of battle you can special summon one level four or lower Zombie-Type monster from your graveyard (other than 'Headless Horseman').

**Description:** a black clothed warrior with clothing that was from the colonial ages with a long cloak that billowed from its shoulders. The monster in question was also atop of beautiful black steed and was holding onto a long rapier

**Battle Bomber / Instant Spell / Effect:** This card can only be activated when your opponent takes battle damage. Destroy one face up monster on the field with an DEF equal to or lower than the amount of damage your opponent just took.

**Image:** Peten the Dark Clown waving his hat around while riding on a dropping bomb over the field Skyscraper

**Ghostly Afterimage / Continuous Spell / Effect:** Monsters special summoned with this effect cannot attack or be used in a tribute or Synchro summon. Once per turn, by discarding one Zombie-Type monster from your hand you may activate one of the following effects:

-) Special summon one 'Battle Warrior Ghost Token' (Earth/LV3/Warrior/700/1000) to your side of the field. A token summoned with this effect is considered to be 'Battle Warrior'.

-) Special summon one 'Dissolverock Ghost Token' (EARTH/LV3/Rock/900/1000) to your side of the field. A token summoned with this effect is considered to be 'Dissolverock'.

-) Special summon one 'Blackland Fire Dragon Ghost Token' (Dark/LV.4/Dragon/1500/800). A token summoned with this effect is considered to be 'Blackland Fire Dragon'.

**Image:** several ghosts of famous monsters wandering the ragged halls of a haunted house.

**Raiden-Mei / Light / LV. 9 / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 1200 / Thunder/Fusion/Effect:** [Rai-Mei + Thunder Dragon + Thunder Dragon] This card can attack each of your opponent's monsters once per turn (this card cannot attack your opponent's life points directly if this effect is used). When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, you may special summon one Thunder-Type monster from your graveyard.

**Description:** Rai-Mei, only she had her twin-tails become a single lightning bolt shaped hair tail that fell to the ground. She was still wearing her jumpsuit, but over that she was wearing a beautiful light green, short kimono that was embroidered with a pair of familiar dragons that surged electricity. And in the girl's hands were a pair of deep blue fans

**TTTTTT**

_**Well, he's a weird leader…**_

_**But we still have one more local Shadowchaser to show – Hardin – And while she may seem like the quiet, smart type, you should never underestimate anyone.**_

_**However, will she be able to handle the Shadowkind that's before her? **_

_**A shadow of the past returns on a mission, aiming to claim something from a rundown era.**_

_**Who will win?**_

_**Find out next time on DCC!**_

_**Draw 5**_

_**Past Image**_


	6. Draw 5: Past Image

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone, I just wanted to say something before this chapter begins. I won't be able to post for a while due to a few issues - One, I'm graduating college (YAY)! Two, I'm restituating my life after next week and won't have time to post for a while. And three, I just need some down time after all the stress I've had to deal with for the past few weeks.

So, while this isn't the end of the story, I'm just needing some down time. And I thought that I would give you all one of the most powerful duels that I have written in here. So yeah, enjoy.

_**Have you ever fought against someone who could easily crush you? But, instead of doing so, they face you on even terms? Have you ever had this situation?**_

_**If so, it is an odd one. **_

_**I was always taught that stereotypes were wrong and that you shouldn't pay them any mind, but I think that deep down, people kind of expect some stereotypes to be true (it doesn't help that there are plenty people who do help reinforce said stereotypes). And you find that this happens a lot more with Shadowkind, and that's due to literature. People can't help but think when they see an ogre; they immediately think that the big lug is gonna crush first and ask questions never. **_

_**However, when you meet someone is completely the exact opposite from what you expect, you get an 'open mouth, insert foot' moment. Normally, I don't have to deal with these sorts of situations, but still, everyone has these moments – Even I have theses times, heck, most Shadowchasers do deal with this.**_

_**Still, even I'm a little surprise at the recent development; after all, the guy I just came across is quite frankly not what I would expect at all. **_

_**And, even though he doesn't have an obligation to duel, he does, and his deck choice is even odder than he is.**_

_**Then again, I'm not one to talk.**_

**TTTTTTTTT**

_**Draw 5**_

_**Past Image**_

**TTTTTTTTT**

_Time: 4:17 p.m._

_Location: Brooklyn Shadowchaser Base, Downtown Brooklyn _

It had been a few minutes since Irving had returned to the base, and ever since he sat down in living room of the townhouse, he had his hidden gaze set on the blank red book that he held in his gloved hands. '_What in the world is so special about this book that a person would kill?'_

At the doorframe that led to the kitchen from the living room, Hyde leaned against the doorframe as he nursed a cup of coffee, "… Is he always like this?"

In the kitchen, Hardin herself was seated at the table, enjoying her own cup of caffeine, "In all honesty, he's a lot louder normally. He's been trying to inspire a lot of teamwork amongst the team, which in all honesty isn't a bad thing…"

"Its just tiring isn't it?" Hyde questioned before he took a long swig from his coffee.

Hardin gently nodded before she enjoyed her own cup of coffee. "You should try training under Irving; it's quite an interesting endeavor."

"Thanks, but I'll pass," Hyde answered back with his hand lifted up. "I know another one of Irving's students, and frankly, he's not my favorite person. Are you one of Irving's students?"

"I was," Hardin answered as she lowered her cup of coffee to the table she was seated at. For a moment, a small shiver sped up Hardin's body, which Hyde easily spotted. Then with a nervous grimace, Hardin turned towards Hyde and sighed loudly. "I still have a few nightmares about my training."

"Was it that bad?" Hyde questioned with a raised eyebrow.

For a moment Irving was quiet before she adjusted her glasses and narrowed her gaze slightly, "Tell me something, Mr. Vayne, have you ever watched the Rocky movie series?"

"A while back," Hyde answered before he swirled the cup of coffee he had in his hand. "Why?"

"There's a scene in Rocky two that Irving based one of his training exercises off of," Hardin explained as a cold sweatdrop appeared on the side of her head. "It's based on the scene that Rocky has to chase the chicken in order to improve his speed and movement."

"Irving made you chase a chicken?" Hyde questioned, a dull look appearing in his eyes.

"I only wish," Hardin replied as Hyde took a sip from his coffee. "He made me chase a cockatrice."

Hyde's eyes bugged out and he nearly spat out his coffee when he heard that. As Hyde coughed a few times, the older man thought to himself about what he just heard – A cockatrice, a chicken-like creature that was extremely dangerous despite its comical appearance. One difference between a cockatrice and a chicken was the fact that the former had a snake for a tail and if you were bitten by said tail, the bitten area would turn to stone, and it would spread.

Another difference between the two fowls was that cockatrices could in fact grow to the size of a full grown man, and they were known to be omnivores – and they would eat anything! Thankfully, most of the time though cockatrices were known to be rather docile and didn't attack people unless they were agitated. Still, to be chased by someone would be enough to prompt the fowl shadow to attack.

"You don't have to worry though," Hardin assured with her gloved hands raised up. "Irving was not a reckless teacher, he always made sure that the training exercises wouldn't hurt us, and whenever he did the training he made sure to carry the antidote to a cockatrice's bite."

'_This explains a lot about Barron,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he returned to his coffee.

At that moment however, the sound of a door slam echoed through the entire building, which caught the attention of both Hyde and Hardin, "Hey old man! Tomboy! Trap! You in here?"

Hardin sighed loudly as she stood up from the table, "Please excuse me for a moment Mr. Vayne, and I need to explain to Taiga about your presence, lest we have any inconveniences in the future."

Hyde shrugged his shoulders as he watched Hardin leave the kitchen, he then turned his attention back to Irving who finally had released his grip on that book and was just relaxing on the couch. "Is the rest of your team as calm and collected as Hardin?"

With a loud laugh, Irving turned his covered face towards Hyde, "I wish they were, but that'd be too dull. Besides, I don't want to make them into cookie-cutters of model Shadowchasers; I just want them to work together as a great team."

"Yeah, nobody's perfect," Hyde stated as he placed his empty mug of coffee on the nearby counter. "So, what's the rest of your team like?"

"Well, if my ears are still working," Irving stated as he rubbed his covered chin. "You're about to meet the most hotheaded member of our little group."

Hyde narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard rapid footsteps echo through the building, and at the last second, Hyde spun around and lifted his arm up, just in time to catch a fist that was thrown straight towards his head. It was a powerful punch, one that caused Hyde to put more effort into blocking the attack.

"You bastard!" Taiga snarled at Hyde as she barred her sharp teeth at the smoking Shadowchaser. "Do you know how hard it was for me to get the intel for that warehouse? I had to pay Frank a lot!"

With a small sigh, Hyde threw the fist down and jumped back slightly, which allowed him to look at the youth who had attacked him, more specifically at the tiger ears and tail that were attached to the enraged girl's body, "A shadow-touched?"

"I'm a cat person, you ass!" Taiga roared again as she prepared to pounce once more…

"Irving Chop!"

WHAM!

"OW!" Taiga yelped as she crouched down and held her head; tears were in the corners of her eyes.

Hyde blinked a few times to see that Irving had gotten off his duff and done something useful with that book he brought in – And that was to whap Taiga on the top of the head with it. "Taiga, how many times have I told you to not assault fellow Shadowchasers?"

"I could care less if he was Jalal himself!" Taiga snapped as she stood up straight. "Because of this asshole," the cat shadow-touched girl pointed towards Hyde with her tail. "We lost out on inflicting a major blow on the BackDraft Corps!"

At that moment, Hardin slowly walked into the room with her eyes closed, "My apologies Mr. Vayne and Irving, I was hoping that if I explained everything to Taiga, she wouldn't react this way, but…"

"No, no," Irving sighed as he waved his hand; all the while he ignored Taiga as she continued to glare daggers at both Irving and Hyde. "It's better for her to get these frustrations out now rather than lose her cool while she's on duty. But, in any case, Taiga, that doesn't give you the right to assault our guest – He had no prior knowledge of our plans and was working on his own.

"But, if you still have a problem, you're more than welcomed to punch me a few times to take care of your frustrations."

Taiga gagged slightly with her tongue stuck out at Irving, "Yeah right, you're as hard as a rock, especially that head of yours – I'd more than likely break my fist in the process…"

"Alright then," Irving stated with a nod of his covered head. "Besides your anger, you usually call out to us in your usual manner of insults when you found something out, I take it that your informant had some useful information?"

Hyde took this moment to sit down in one of the chairs and muse for a second – This Taiga girl in a sense reminded him of Ace, except Taiga had a shorter fuse, although, he doubted that the two were the exact same. At least Ace didn't insult her superiors (at least not on purpose) and certainly didn't assault anyone, except for Barron and occasionally her boyfriend Kyon.

Hopefully, the last member wasn't like Taiga, that'd just be a nightmare.

"Humph, well before my mood was ruined," Taiga started before she took the chance to leer at Hyde once more. "You'll be happy to know that I managed to pull a gem of information from the useless clutter of mind-numbing drivel that runs our society – As it turns out, there's another well known place of business amongst the BackDraft Corps, a few of their members have shown up there a few times in the past. I doubt its anything like that warehouse, but it could have some promise to it."

Reaching into her jacket, Taiga instantly produced a small folded up sheet of paper that she handed to Irving. "Here's the address, it's supposed to be some old, rundown boardinghouse in the Village."

"I'm surprised Taiga," Irving admitted as he unfolded the paper to read the address to himself. "Normally when you find a piece of information like this, you're usually trying to hog all the glory to yourself."

"That's kinda how I got probation, remember?" Taiga growled in return with a flat look in her eyes. "You told me that I had to start acting more like a team player."

"Indeed, indeed," Irving stated under his breath. "Alright, it should be good to check it out, but I don't want to spread our forces too thin, especially with Kuroi still in the hospital."

"Then I'll just go on my own then," Taiga offered with a sly smirk on her face. "I could use the rep."

"No can do," Irving replied with his arms crossed. "You're still being monitored, you're lucky I let you go out on patrol today alone, that's pushing it. No, I think I'll have Hardin take this case.

"Are you up for it Hardin?"

Hardin bowed slightly with her eyes closed, "It would be no problem for me to take this mission Irving."

"WHAT!" Taiga snapped, a large blood vessel appearing on the side of her head. "What the hell Irving? It's my lead, I should…"

"IRVING CHOP!"

WHAP!

"OW!" Taiga yelped again as she crouched down from Irving's second book slam attack.

"I was gonna let ya do that," Irving answered as he tapped the red book a few times in his hand. "But you had to go and assault our guest, so, yeah, sucks to be you. Besides, we need to send someone who's a bit more subtle – And Hardin fits that to a T. So, if you've got a problem with that, then we could always settle this with fists."

Once again, Taiga grimaced at Irving's offer and sighed loudly, "Whatever, I'm gonna go take a nap then – I need the damn sleep."

And like that, Taiga walked out of the room, holding her head slightly in pain. Hyde just tilted his head slightly as he watched the Shadow-Touched Shadowchaser strut out of the room with her nose held high. '_She's got a lot of pride for someone so young…'_

"I'm sorry about putting you on the spot like that Hardin," Irving stated with his arms raised. "But its necessary – and what I said is completely true about you."

"It is no trouble at all, Irving," Hardin answered with a slightly sad smile on her face. "But in any case, I will head out immediately, it's almost rush hour, and I would prefer to not get caught in that conglomerate of mass time murder."

And with that, Hardin walked towards the main hall of the townhouse leaving both Hyde and Irving in the living room. After the sound of a door closing echoed through the air, Irving chuckled loudly, "I know what you're thinking, and the two are complete opposites of each other, right?"

Hyde closed his eyes and nodded once. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but it was the first time he met a pair like this – Hardin was clear headed and concise while Taiga was hot-headed and hot blooded. The two could be used to balance each other out, and there didn't seem to be too much bad blood between the two…

Still, there was the last member of the group, and until he had a chance to meet this Kuroi character, Hyde wouldn't be able to asses what he would be working with. With a shake of his head, Hyde began to head back to the kitchen, "I'm getting another cup of Joe, and you want one?"

Without missing a beat, Irving said musically, "Two cream, one sugar for me."

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 5:24 pm_

_Location: Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, New York City_

It wasn't too long of a drive for Hardin to get to the Village, it was a trip that she normally took when she wanted to pick up some groceries for the rest of the team – Or at least the coffee. Known as the bohemian capital, the Village was once known as a rural hamlet, and is one of the most populated locations of all of Manhattan.

Within the last few years, thanks to the age of technology even the Village managed to update itself by making a good portion of the living buildings were renovated – Yet were still easily affordable for people to live in.

However, that wasn't true for the building that Hardin was pulling up to in her D-Wheel. It was rundown, had broken windows, and looked like it was on the verge of being replaced.

'_I go the village almost all the time,_' Hardin thought as she parked her D-Wheel in front of building that was practically falling apart in front of her. '_How come I never noticed this place before?'_

Carefully removing her black helmet, Hardin placed her fedora over her head of hair and patted it down slightly as she walked towards the building. '_This is the right address, but it doesn't seem like anyone's been here for ages. Still, appearances can be deceiving, and this is the BackDraft Corps we're talking about, they're quite sneaky.'_

Once she reached the stoop of the townhouse, Hardin looked around the area – noting that no one seemed to be around, which was weird for New York City at any time of the day (anyone could tell you that). Even the traffic seemed to be rather devoid of the metal congestion of the roads as she neared the building.

But with a shrug, Hardin continued on her path to the building and immediately reached the door to the boardinghouse. Gently, Hardin placed her hand on the knob and raised an eyebrow when she realized that door wasn't locked, '_This is supposed to be abandoned, and by the looks of it, condemned… It doesn't take a genius to know that something's wrong here…'_

That thought was only reinforced as Hardin opened the door and was met with what appeared to be only a corridor of darkness. Indeed, the only light that was going into the boardinghouse was the dwindling light that poured in from the cleared doorframe.

Bringing her hand up to the side, Hardin reached for a light-switch and it wasn't too much to find that. However, when she flicked the switch, nothing happened. '_Of course the lights don't work. Oh well.'_

With a nod, Hardin reached into her coat's pocket and pulled out a small clip-on flashlight that she clipped to the breast of her overcoat.

And with a small flick, Hardin turned on the flashlight and carefully began to walk into the decrypted building, with each step she took, a pained groan from the floor echoed along each step. '_This place feels like it's gonna fall apart at any second. And I gotta be quieter, these floorboards will give away my position but the same holds true for…'_

_**The SUN will rise again, **_

_**The SUN will rise on me.**_

_**The SUN will rise again, **_

_**A shining morning will come.**_

_**We lost our hopes and dreams**_

_**Some forty years ago,**_

_**We live our lives in twilight**_

_** Never knowing what we know.**_

Hardin jumped slightly when she heard that song echo through the boarding house, the song continued as she carefully walked through the main corridor, trying to find where the song came from.

_**The SUN will rise again,**_

_**And shine its light on what we lost.**_

_**We can't go anywhere,**_

_**We can't know where we're going,**_

'_**Cause we don't know where we're from.**_

_**I want to know the truth…**_

It seemed that the song was coming from everywhere, but it was soft and soothing and guided Hardin deeper into the boardinghouse. As she walked further in, Hardin stopped every few seconds to look at the surroundings to see the ruined walls, knocked over furniture and even the soaked carpeting (she hoped it was just from mold or something she was stepping on).

However, when Hardin came to what appeared to be a large painting at the end of the hallway, she had to stop and look at it. The painting's picture was completely ruined, clawed out with streaks of blood following the claw marks. Hardin froze slightly as she brought her hand up and gazed at the blood. It wasn't the first time that Hardin saw blood, and Irving had taught her about how to read crime scenes, and that included how to tell bloodstain age, '_It's not fresh, but its not too old either. Roughly a week or so…_

'_Still whatever caused these claw markings definitely wasn't friendly.'_

Placing one hand in her pocket, Hardin grasped tightly on the item that she had in there…

_**The SUN will rise again**_

_**The SUN will rise on me**_

_**The SUN will rise again**_

_**A shining morning will come**_

_**One dawn the SUN will shine**_

_**And an angel will come down**_

_**An angel will lead us…**_

The song seemed closer than before, and Hardin turned to the side and was met with a sight of what appeared to be a flight of stairs that led down to a basement of sorts. '_God, I feel like I'm in some sort of bad clichéd horror movie, still, some Shadowchasers have to deal with more, than I, so I'm not one to complain.'_

And with that thought, Hardin slowly walked down the steps, each of them creaking loudly under her weight as she descended down deeper and deeper.

Meanwhile, outside the boardinghouse, a large jeep pulled up next to the curb with its large driver looking over the building and then Hardin's D-Wheel. "Hmm, company, eh?"

**TTTTTTTT**

Hardin was continuing down the stairs, realizing that the song had stopped, but her quiet steps didn't. With her breathing quiet and reserved, Hardin realized that she was getting closer to what appeared to be an outline of another door. She could make out the outline without her flashlight since it looked like there was light seeping through the cracks between the door and its frame.

A few moments passed and Hardin was standing in front of the door. Quickly turning off her flash light, Hardin slowly reached for the door's knob and slowly turned it – however, the black wearing Shadowchaser didn't open the door all the way, and instead looked inside the door through a small crack she made between the door and its frame.

From what Hardin was able to see through the crack, the room she was looking at was well lit, and seemed to be some sort of office with the lights on. '_What in the world? Is there someone here?'_

After a few minutes of watching the room, Hardin slowly pushed the door open a bit further and saw that the room was devoid of anything living. The room wasn't empty – There were a few desks that had several pieces of paper, test tubes, and various liquids atop of them.

Of course, what was really eye catching in the room was the large blood splatter in the middle of the room with several broken bones and ripped pieces of what looked to be a lab coat laid around the blood splat. Hardin held her hand up to her mouth, not because the scene was sickening, but for the fact that the air was extremely stagnant and she didn't want to choke on the smell. '_Okay… If the BackDraft Corps is working out of here, this place is definitely abandoned. I don't want to run into whatever made this mess._

'_Still, I have a duty to at least check this place out, and if there's a wild beast running around, then I'll have to let the rest of the team know… But first, let's see if those files can tell me anything about what we would be dealing with.'_

Walking away from the bloodstain, Hardin slowly walked towards one of the desks. When she did reach the desk, the black wearing Shadowchaser looked at the papers, most of them were equations and theories that were stained by various liquids (to Hardin's gratefulness, blood wasn't among the stains).

However, as she brushed away some of the papers, Hardin came across what appeared to be a torn up book with the word 'Journal' embroidered on it. There was a bookmark in the journal and carefully, Hardin lifted up the book and slowly opened it to the marked page.

Indeed, it was a journal, and Hardin began to read the text inside her head…

'_I was a fool, they warned me, time and time again, that there were some things man was never meant to know, yet here I am nonetheless, having doomed myself and my apprentice to death as irrefutably as if I were to feed each of us a bullet from the gun I thought would be some semblance of defense._

'_But there can be no deterrent, no barrier great enough to contain what we have awakened. And for what? _

'_Reputation? _

'_Funding? _

'_Personal satisfaction? _

'_Damn my hubris! There was no shame in a simple life, no shame in taking a quiet joy from my modest accomplishments thus far. _

'_But perhaps it only proves what they warned me all along: there can be no absolutes when dealing with the forces of Hell. I read the reports; I have seen firsthand the consequences of conspiring with demon and devil alike among my peers, what could have possibly lead me to believe the means by which they use to slay themselves and others to be any different?_

'_The concept was simple; by using a powerful magical artifact as a base, a construct could be made of superior quality then any other to date. My logic was sound, based on reports on the Blood Silver Golem whose rampage into the heart of Shadowchaser Headquarters a testament to the seemingly limitless potential such creations might possess in capable hands._

'_Capable hands...as if I had any clue what side effects it would have to use armor obtained from a demon's corpse would have! Indeed, there are many who believe that over extended exposure to powerful emotions inanimate objects can come to contain lingering traces of said emotion, and my so called 'success' seems a terrible testament to the truth behind this belief._

_'What that creature must have experienced, what it must have felt up until the moment of its death, I can scarcely comprehend how something could contain such terrible rage, such overwhelming HATRED!_

'_What sort of nightmare have we created? Compared to the previous creation that we made… There is no comparison between the two! Why would THEY want these two things requested? An angel and a devil is what they accurately are. I can understand why they would want a devil, a devil suits them._

'_But why would they would they request an angel? Especially with the materials that were given to me? Well, I can say this much, it was a success and not as gruesome as the more recent of creations. In order to contain such a devil, one of my assistants was brutally murdered in the process – may his soul rest in peace – But even now, I know our current method for containing this devil will not last._

'_Yet, even now I write on - __The only good thing that came from creating this abomination is that should it break free from its shackles, this corrupted city will finally get it's judgment passed down on it... For all the suffering that I and my assistants have been dealt these past few years..._

'_Revenge is out of our reach, redemption is beyond us, and only bloodshed is what awaits us._

'_I only have one regret - And that is that I should not have accepted that request. Although I was given a chance to fulfill my one desire, this cursed being will destroy everything - Therefore, before this being breaks free, I made sure that she would be safe and that...'_

"And it stops," Hardin muttered to herself, closing the book and pocketing it. '_I should take this with me, if there is something on the loose in New York City, and then we'll need to prepare ourselves.'_

_**And we will find what we lost…**_

_**The angel will lead us to the right place…**_

_**Angel wings can take us…**_

Hardin lifted her head up in surprise, the singing had returned, only this time it was a lot closer. It wasn't hard to find out where the singing was coming from, one side of the room had a door to it that was partially opened. The lights in that room were lit as well, and coupled with that singing; it was obvious that someone was behind that door.

Once again, Hardin fitted her hand into one of her other pockets and pulled out a pair of gloves in her hand. As she approached the door, Hardin slipped the gloves on her hands, clenching her fists tight after.

When the dark clothed Shadowchaser held her breath when she reached the door, it seemed that an even strong smell of blood seeped from behind the door. For a single moment, Hardin hesitated before she pushed the door a little bit so she could see inside, "Holy…"

Hardin pushed the door open and her eyes widened behind her glasses when she looked into the room – Unlike the previous room, this one was practically filled up to the ceiling with cages of various sizes, and the cages weren't empty.

Carcasses of creatures that Hardin had never seen before lined the cages, with flies buzzed around the cages and added effect to the revolting smell that pierced the air. Even though she had experienced these sorts of sights before, Hardin still couldn't help but turn away slightly at the sight (that and the smell was starting to choke her).

_**The SUN will rise again**_

_**The SUN will rise on me**_

_**The SUN will rise again**_

_**A shining morning will come**_

_**One dawn the SUN will shine**_

_**And an angel will come down**_

_**An angel will lead us…**_

That song was even closer, so close that Hardin almost seemed entranced to follow where the sound was, despite the fact that as Hardin got closer to the music; the corpses in the cages seemed to get more and more grotesque and deformed.

When the singing stopped, Hardin stopped moving and carefully looked around the cage filled room.

"Are you an angel?"

Hardin blinked a few times and looked down at one of the cages that were on the floor, slowly; she knelt down and was met with something she didn't expect to see.

'_A child?'_

Inside the cage was a small girl, probably five or six years of age from what Hardin was able to guess. She was extremely thin with a long white dress hanging from her body that was covered with dirt and stains, and she had long white hair that brushed past her shoulders and lined her smudge covered face. When Hardin managed to fully crouch down, she was able to see that the girl wasn't human, but… Hardin couldn't tell what the girl was. She had rounded ears and a messily furred tail that wagged wildly as Hardin got closer. '_Could this be one of the experiments that the journal mentioned? But is this the angel or demon that was mentioned?'_

"Are you an angel, mister?" The girl questioned with her head tilted slightly, she had a smile that never left her face.

Hardin pushed up her hat in slight annoyance, "I'm the farthest thing from an angel, little one. What about you? What are you?"

"What do you mean?" The girl questioned with a few blinks of confusion. "Thirteen is Thirteen, Papa always said that. Don't ya know Papa?"

"Papa?" Hardin asked as she leaned a little closer to the cage. "What does your papa look like?"

"Papa is scruffy!" Thirteen (that's what Hardin assumed the girl's name was at the moment) cheered with a large smile on her face. "Papa's thin and Papa always wears a big flappy thing! Kinda like what you're wearing angel, only white!"

"A white coat," Hardin muttered to herself as she immediately thought of the sight in the previous room. '_That's never good…'_

"So, what do angels look like, mister? Do ya know?" Thirteen asked again, leaning forward and closer towards Hardin, to the point that she had her cheeks pressed into the bars. "Papa always talked about angels, but Papa never told Thirteen what angels look like."

"I'm not the best person to ask," Hardin replied as she ran a finger along her fedora's rim. "But, do you know what happened to your papa?"

"Thirteen doesn't know," Thirteen muttered with her ears drooping slightly as her face followed suit. "All Thirteen knows is that for… Um…"

Thirteen slowly lifted her hands up, holding up all five fingers on one of her hands and two on the other. "This many dark times."

"Are you talking about nights?" Hardin muttered to herself. '_I can't leave this kid here, but after what I just read in that notebook, I have to be careful here. I don't know if this could be the angel or the devil that was written in that book. Looking at her and the fact that she's in a cage bluntly point out that this girl couldn't have done it…_

'_But, she's an artificial creature, who knows what this girl can do. I should at the very least let Irving know about this, I could get his take on this and get some back up here.'_

Hardin stood up, and pulled her cell phone from one of her pockets, which elicited an excited gasp from Thirteen, "Oooh! Ooh! What's that?"

"A cell phone," Hardin answered with a surprisingly warm smile on her face as she looked at the screen. '_Should I consider it weird that I actually have a good signal down here? No, never look a gift horse in the mouth.'_

Just as Hardin was about to push the auto-dial to get Irving on the line, a loud creak echoed through the entire building. The next thing that Hardin knew several cracks creaked through the room and she leapt backwards just in time to dodge several pieces of shattered wood and two large objects crashing into the ground near where she was standing a few moments ago. "What in the?"

A large amount of dust surged from the crash site, causing both Hardin and Thirteen to cough loudly. All the while, amongst the dust, two large figures quickly stood up and began to trade blows against each other, the larger of the two missing with his wide punches, but able to block the attacks by using their large arms.

The dust slowly began to settle and standing before Hardin were two figures – the first one being a mountainous man who was completely built out of muscle, his black Italian suit tightly covered his muscular body. However, the suit was ripped and dirtied in various places, which allowed his skin to peak out from various spots on his clothes – his red skin. The man had short black hair that was spiked backwards with a streak of white shooting to the side of it.

Even from behind, Hardin was able to see what this man was, his size and skin color alone were enough evidence for her to discern what she was looking at, '_A blood ogre! But what the hell is a red ogre doing here?'_

But Hardin had to put that question's answer on hold when her eyes turned towards the second figure that emerged from the dusty debris appeared to be a large suit of demonic armor with several jagged and sharp edges jutting from all edges from the armor. The armor itself was a rusty silver color and designed to have several jagged bat wings covering the shoulders with a demonic wolf face for the chest armor and a horned helmet that had no real other noticeable traits.

However, several splotches of blood covered the armor's body at random spots. The armor slowly raised its hands up, revealing that there were sharp claws that branched over the fingers – and were rusted over by a large amount of blood that had stained the armor up to the elbows of the metal. "Why do you persist in trying to survive? Your pitiful resistance may be entertaining at first, however this has been tiresome and I long to have my steel taste your blood…"

"AAAAAAH! It's the d-d-d-devil!" Thirteen yelped as she scampered further back in her cage, trying to keep away from the armor that was only a few feet away.

"Silence you louse!" the armor roared out making Thirteen shrinking down slightly. However, when the armor had turned towards Thirteen, it had apparently noticed Hardin, who fitted a pair of gloves over her hands. "Oh, and what's this? Another mortal being has stepped into my domain? My claws are thirsting to taste that blood splash against my armor.

"Drip, drip, the sound of blood slipping from my claws. Drip, drip, nothing can save you both, not even your mortal laws!"

The armor immediately ran past the blood ogre towards Hardin with surprising speed, its heavy footsteps echoing quickly as it closed the gap between it and Hardin. The ogre turned his head around, revealing his small sunglasses and prominent lower jaw with a pair of teeth jutting out. "Get out of the way!"

However, Hardin stood there as the armor was about to bring its blood covered claws down on the quiet Shadowchasers when Hardin stepped to the side and dodged the attack at the last second. The armor was about to turn around to bring its claws for a side-swipe, but Hardin took her opportunity and slammed her gloved fist into the armor's helmet which sent the piece of armor flying from the rest of the armor.

To Hardin's surprise, there was nothing inside the armor! Well, save for several stains of dried blood that had soaked into the metal of the armor. Unfortunately, Hardin was a little stunned at the fact that there was nothing in the armor, which allowed the helmet-less armor to restart its attack.

WHAM!

But the blood ogre immediately threw a powerful punch into the back of the armor, sending it flying further into the room. Once again, Hardin was taken back by the ogre's action, but even more so by when the ogre looked to her and spoke, "Hurry! It won't stay down for long!"

"What?" Hardin questioned as the living armor crashed into the opposing wall.

"Living Armors don't tend to feel pain," the blood ogre explained as he held his hand up. "As such, they can keep going and going and going, so we need to take this chance and run!"

Hardin nodded but then turned towards the scared Thirteen, who was now curled up in her cage with her hands covering the top of her head. "… Not without her."

The blood ogre looked towards the caged girl and sighed slightly, "Right, but we don't have time to look for the key and…"

"You're a blood ogre right?" Hardin questioned as she looked over her shoulder to see that the armor was slowly pulling itself from the wall, its leg still stuck in the stone wall. "If you can punch that guy into a wall, you can break the bars easily."

The blood ogre pushed up his sunglasses, "… Touché."

Without a second to spare, the blood ogre bent down and easily broke two of the bars off of the cage, this act made Thirteen yelp slightly at the surprising strength. She cringed as she expected the red skinned ogre to reach in and grasp her with one hand; however, two soft and warm hands hooked under her arms and gently lifted her from the cage.

Thirteen blinked a few times when she realized that Hardin was the one who pulled her from the cage. Hardin quickly tucked Thirteen under her arm and began to run. "Don't worry; I won't let you get hurt."

A small streak of red appeared on Thirteen's face as she grabbed hold of the side of Hardin's coat as the black overcoat wearing Shadowchaser and Blood Ogre ran as fast as they could through the basement.

As soon as they were out of the cage-filled room, the demonic armor pulled itself from the wall and slowly walked towards the door, stopping to pick up its empty helmet. "… A fruitless effort and they've done the one thing I have yet to accomplish to acquire my freedom.

"The fools…"

**TTTTTTTTTT**

_A few minutes later…_

Hardin with Thirteen under her arm and the Blood Ogre quickly rushed out of the stairwell from the basement and dashed through the hall of the old building towards the door that both Hardin and the blood ogre entered through.

However, when they were halfway there, a familiar figure stood in front of the light that seeped from the doorway. Both Hardin and the blood ogre stopped in their tracks when they realized that it was the armor that had assaulted both of them, its silhouette overshadowed the two. Hardin and the Blood Ogre skidded to a stop before they were too close to the armor.

With a slight chuckle, the armor clapped its hands a few times with a few loud clanks that echoed through the air. "Bravo, bravo, a marvelous escape attempt, and there was a cooperation between human and monster."

"How in blazes did you get up here before us?" the Blood Ogre questioned pushing up his sunglasses with one of his large fingers.

"This building has a lot of holes in the floors," the armor explained as he crossed his metallic arms over its chest. "I just leapt through one of them. Not that difficult of a concept to grasp."

"You wouldn't happen to know if this place has another exit would you?" Hardin asked quietly to the blood ogre next to her.

"Uh, I'm not too familiar with this place," The blood ogre replied under his breath. "So, I wouldn't be the best person to ask."

"I am not interested in either of you," the armor stated as it lifted one of its arms up and pointed towards Hardin. "If you grant me the little louse, I shall let both of you leave without any harm."

"What?" Both Hardin and the red ogre questioned as they looked at Thirteen, who at the moment was curled around Hardin's arm.

"It is only a pleasantry that I am granting you," The armor admitted. "I can easily slay the two of you, however, with my situation, I only require that louse."

"Why do you want her?" Hardin questioned, slowly pulling Thirteen behind her.

The armor seemed to sigh loudly, "I have no reason to explain myself, I believe you mortals have a saying – 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth', if I'm correct. You shouldn't tempt your fates by trying to fish for information, just surrender the louse and take my offer."

The armor lifted up its clawed hand expectantly, "Is it not mortal nature to fear for your own lives? To do whatever it takes to survive? To live?"

Hardin turned towards the Blood Ogre, who was simply pushing up his sunglasses. However, when Hardin turned back to the armor…

"That's true. However, to sacrifice one life for another is not an equal trade."

The Blood Ogre stepped past Hardin and held his hand up towards the armor, "To sacrifice a young lady for myself, I would not be able to look myself in the mirror anymore."

Although surprised, Hardin nodded and adjusted her hat with her free hand, "Yes, besides, we were able to hold our own against you when we teamed up against you."

With a shake of its head, the armor sighed loudly and clamped its hands together. After a few seconds, a large amount of dark colored smoke began to stream out from the gaps of the armor. "I see you have sealed your fates, and then I'm going to resort to another method of dealing with the two of you."

The dark colored smoke quickly spread from the armor's body and seeped around the small group in the main hall of the building. The smoke seemed to rise up around the four before the light that was emitting from the door behind the armor was covered up by the smoke.

The blood ogre's eyes widened slightly behind his sunglasses as he realized what was going on, "Crap… I didn't think this thing could pull off one of these."

"Do you know what's going on?" Hardin questioned at the blood ogre.

"Yeah, this armor seems to have the ability to create Darkness Games," the Blood Ogre explained as he pushed up his sunglasses again. "As a Shadowchaser, I can assume you know what these things are, correct?"

Hardin was stunned for a second, she had read reports about them, but to actually see a Darkness Game being formed around her – and by something that was normally inanimate – was another matter. Whatever the reason behind this, Hardin noticed that Thirteen was clutching even tighter to Hardin's waist, freeing the Shadowchaser's arm. "Yeah, I know of them."

"Rather intriguing that a human female would know of these," the armor admitted as it lifted up its left arm up, allowing the dark mist to wrap around its armor. "Especially in this era."

"Female?" the blood ogre muttered under his breath as he looked at Hardin for a few seconds. "For the love of… Do all women in the Shadowchasers dress masculine?"

Hardin pushed up her glasses a few times as the dark mist around the Armor finally solidified, forming into a rusty, bladed duel disk. "First off, have you ever tried fighting shadows in a skirt or dress? You'd practically give a show to people. And secondly, seriously? You know how to play duel monsters?"

"If you must address me as something," The armor stated as it used its other arm and reached into its helmet. "I would prefer if you were to refer to me as Teufel. As for your second question – While I was being developed, those foolish humans often discussed the game in question; I had taken to the idea. And those who weren't human were discussing something about a treaty of sorts among 'Shadowkind' about how some laws were unfair while they drank this weird black liquid.

"And if I have the gist of the treaty thanks to the knowledge that those foolish scientists displayed, then I myself fall within the terms of this treaty. I believe I might be what you fools refer to as a golem, or a living armor. As I am sentient, I qualify do I not?"

"Considering what you're capable of," the blood ogre stated. "Why would you bother using this as a means to get what you want?"

Teufel pulled out his hand from his helmet, and revealed a slightly bloodied deck of duel monster cards, "If it was one on one, then there would be no doubt to this. However, as you both demonstrated, I would be unable to defeat you both at the same time. Especially if you two decided to literally take me apart.

"In this manner, not only can I dispose of both of you at the same time, I also get the chance to experiment in these matters – After all, possessing these abilities that I was granted, I can only imagine what those scientists had intended for me…"

Both Hardin and the Blood Ogre watched as Teufel slipped the deck into his duel disk, making the attachment on his arm glow darkly. "Was I destined to be an experiment? Perhaps as a weapon? I doubt it was anything for peace… So, while I get my freedom, I can also find my purpose.

"And should you two win, then you both should be able to acquire your freedom. Now, lest you two wish to surrender yourselves, I would suggest that one of you or both raise a… Duel disk, bleh, and prepare yourself for combat."

Hardin sighed slightly to herself, "I'd like to say that this is one of the most confusing reasons for dueling, but I'd be lying if I said it was. So, Mr. Blood Ogre, you seem to be rather refine, do you know how to duel?"

"Madam, I am capable of refined speech and I can dress in a presentable manner," The blood ogre stated with a slight smirk on his face. If he had pride in those matters, he certainly was entitled to it. Blood ogres weren't known as the brainiest of Shadowkind, but there were certainly rare exceptions, and Hardin was looking one right in the face at the moment. "I do know how to duel; it is sort of a hobby of mine. As for you, I should assume that you've got a deck of cards on your person, Miss Shadowchaser?"

"But of course," Hardin answered gently as she pulled back her overcoat's sleeve, revealing a black duel disk on her left arm. The device caught Thirteen's eyes, and despite the fear that she had only moments ago, the weird young girl reached for the device, all the while making sure that her grip around Hardin's waist wasn't letting up at all. "Teufel, was it?"

The demonic armor nodded its head a few times before Hardin continued, "How are we going to do this? Are you going to want to duel against the two of us one at a time or…"

"It would be too troublesome," Teufel sighed loudly as the Blood Ogre reached into his jacket and pulled out an oddly comical small compact duel disk. "Instead, I would prefer to deal with the two of you at the same time; therefore, this will be a two-on-one. The two of you will pool your life points, graveyards, and the such. And as a Darkness Game rule, you two will swap turns."

The Blood Ogre placed the duel disk on his arm (however the metal band didn't full wrap around his large arm) before he rubbed his chin a few times. "Would it be like – Miss Shadowchaser, then you, then I, you again, and so on?"

"Correct," Teufel stated. "However, neither of you can share what's in your hand, and there is no sharing of strategy."

"If this is your first time playing," Hardin pointed out as she brought her duel disk down slightly to let Thirteen look at the device. "You certainly seem to have a grasp of the concepts."

"Those researchers had created me a while ago," Teufel stated with its arms crossed. "Living armors such as myself have artificial memories instilled within us. Dueling, reading, and speech – Anything that the foolish researchers deemed necessary they implanted into what I call my memory. Rather annoying actually."

"I could imagine," The blood ogre muttered under his breath before he turned towards Hardin. "Miss Shadowchaser, I apologize for this terrible situation, may I humbly request your assistance?"

Hardin was stunned once again; then again, a blood ogre being polite was quite out there. But, Hardin shook her head slightly before she spoke, "It's not really an issue, it comes with the job. And if it's possible, could you refer to me as Hardin?"

"Ah yes, introductions," the blood ogre gasped slightly as he rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Where are my manners today? Miss Hardin, my name is Jin Alphonse; it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I wish it was under better circumstances though."

"… Ahem," Teufel coughed out loudly before it pointed a bloodied armored finger towards the two opposing duelists. "If you two are quite done with the pleasantries, I'd like to kill you two now in a children's card game. Ugh, if I had a tongue, I believe I would have to wash that part of me thoroughly." (TLP: 8000)

Both Hardin and Jin blinked a few times at the armor before they both activated their duel disks. (H&JLP: 8000)

"Miss Hardin, ladies first," Jin stated before all three of the duelists drew their opening hands.

Hardin's eyes dulled slightly, "You don't have to add 'Miss' to my name."

"What does 'miss' mean?" Thirteen questioned, still trying to reach for Hardin's duel disk.

"Enough of the poor comedy act!" Teufel snapped loudly.

With a roll of her eyes, Hardin pulled off the top card from her deck, "… Very well, draw."

Hardin fanned the cards in her hand and looked them over carefully. Her eyes trailed slightly towards Thirteen who was now leaning forward to get a look at the cards – a small smile appeared on Hardin's face as she pulled a card from her hand. "I set one monster face down…"

After Hardin placed the card on her duel disk, the horizontal card materialized in front of her. And just like that, Thirteen's attention was drawn to the mysteriously appearing card. "Oooh! How'd you do that?"

'_Just like a little kid,'_ Hardin thought as she lifted up two more cards from her hand. "It's a little trick that a lot of people know, now watch this, I set two cards face down."

Once again, Thirteen's eyes were gleaming as she watched the two set cards appear in front of Hardin. "OOOH!"

Hardin smirked slightly as she used her free hand to pat the top of Thirteen's head, "You haven't seen anything yet. But, I'd look away when the big bad devil over there takes his turn."

"Um, okay," Thirteen replied bashfully.

"I can only assume you're referring to me," Teufel scoffed as he pulled off the top card from his deck of cards. "Very well, from that, I can say that your turn has concluded. And thus, my chance has arrived."

Teufel tucked the newly drawn card into his hand, and immediately pulled another one out before he spun it around in his armored fingers, "The first move I shall play is the spell card Reasoning, now, one of you declares a level. You, the Blood Ogre, declare the level."

Jin sighed as he shook his head, "Very well, no need to be rude about it. And I have a name you know."

"It's of little consequence," Teufel stated bluntly. "Now, declare the number."

"Fine," Jin sighed once again. "Then I choose level four."

"Very good," Teufel cackled as he reached for the top of his deck. "Now, the card dictates that I pick up cards until I come to a monster card. Should the card be the declared level, all cards get discarded as well as the monster. However…"

Teufel turned the top card over, a spell card called Terraforming. Promptly, the demonic armor slipped the card into the discard slot on its duel disk. For a second time, Teufel flipped over another card, this one a trap card – Good Goblin Housekeeping – and placed it into the graveyard slot. Then there was a weird spell card called Wild and Free.

But the fourth card, Teufel snickered as he turned the card around, revealing a weird monster. The attention, however, was drawn to level portion of the card – Three stars. "Off by one, too bad. Now, I special summon this creature!

"Arise, Swartzvauld Deer!"

The moment that Teufel slapped the card atop of its duel disk, several black leafs flowed from down the air and floated in front of Teufel. Slowly, a figure appeared in between the leafs. When the leafs disappeared, in their place was a full grown deer buck with smoky-black colored fur and ebony antlers that seemed to resemble that of a scary face (800/1300). The deer shook its head before it leered at Jin and Hardin.

Both Hardin and Jin turned towards each other at the sight of the creature, definitely something one wouldn't expect from a living armor that had a thirst for blood. That didn't seem to sit with Thirteen who's eyes were literally sparkling at the sight of the creature.

"Three seconds is enough for your stupor to settle," Teufel stated as a card popped out of the deck of cards that was in his duel disk. "At this time, Swartzvauld Deer's effect comes into play, since I possess no other monsters on the field when it was special summoned, I am allowed to add one other Swartzvauld monster from the deck to my hand."

"There's more than one of these creatures?" Hardin questioned as Teufel held the card up.

"He's capable of conjuring Darkness Games," Jin stated as Teufel continued to look at the card he pulled. "It wouldn't be too farfetched to think that he could create a personal deck for himself."

"I do not possess such a useless ability," Teufel answered back as he held the newly acquired card over his duel disk. "Rather, this deck belonged to one of those foolish researchers – Apparently, it's set of cards that were released in a country called Germany, but have yet to be released in other parts of the world yet. At least, that's what I was told.

"But that matters not at the moment – I now activate the effect of the monster I was granted from my deer. Swartzvauld Bear! Since I possess only one 'Swartzvauld' monster on my field, I can normal summon this creature without tribute."

Teufel slapped the card onto his duel disk, and a loud roar echoed through the air. Several leafs flew from the ground and a large black bear stood up on its hind legs in front of Teufel, its red eyes gleaming brightly in the dark smog. The most interesting aspect about the beast was that on the bear's chest was what appeared to be several tufts of white furred that formed into a smirking face (1900/1700). "And the summoning isn't over, not yet. Since I possess two Swartzvauld monsters on the field, I can special summon this monster from my hand!

"Swartzvauld Wolves!"

For the third time, Teufel slapped a card from his hand onto his duel disk, this time unleashing a trio of black furred wolves that had streaks of white fur around their fur to resemble scars (1200/800). All of the beasts on Teufel's field snarled loudly (save for the Swartzvauld Deer), which made Thirteen cower behind Hardin's back. "Uwha! Make them go away!"

"Three monsters in one turn, so easily," Jin thought as he looked at his duel disk. "I've only seen such speed in a few other decks. If one of those monsters is a tuner monster…"

"… There would be a Synchro summon?" Teufel answered back with its helmet tilted slightly. "Stay your fears, I have no Synchro monsters in this deck. The Swartzvauld deck has other reasons for having such speed. Two cards set, turn end!"

The two cards materialized in front of Teufel, granting each of the creatures on its field some sort of defense. "The time has come Blood Ogre, the first attack belongs to you."

"I see," Jin stated as he pulled off the top card from his deck. "Then I'll have to match your speed as well. And to start off, I activate the continuous spell card – Six Samurai United!"

The spell card materialized in front of Jin, depicting six Japanese armored warriors gathering together in a dramatic pose. "Next, I'll choose to summon Six Samurai – Yaichi!"

A large blue flag flew down from the ceiling of the dome of darkness, which signaled the arrival of a sea-green armored samurai that had neon lights on its armor and a futuristic bow grasped in its hands (1300/800). An orb of light appeared on the spell card on Jin's field. "Now, my spell card gains a Bushido Counter on it, but more importantly, because I possess a Six Samurai on the field, I can special summon the Grandmaster from my hand!"

A cloud of black smoke erupted next to Yaichi, allowing another cybernetic samurai appear on the field next to the first samurai. This grizzled, elder samurai drew his katana from its sheathe, and held the weapon in his bionic hands (2100/800). "That means my Six Samurai United has two counters, and by destroying it, I can draw two cards from my deck!"

As the spell card shattered like glass, Jin picked off the top two cards from his deck and nodded at the cards. "Next, I'll use Yaichi's effect to destroy your face down card on the left!"

Pulling back on the bowstring, Yaichi created an arrow of blue light that he immediately fired into the back of the face down card, piercing it and shattering it into millions of pixels. However, Teufel didn't say a word in response.

"And now," Jin announced as he threw his hand forward. "Grandmaster! Slay that bear!"

The elder samurai narrowed his good eye down on the black furred bear and immediately dashed forward, his sword already drawn. The large bear roared loudly as it threw a paw towards the Grandmaster, however the katana had cleaved through the air and sliced right through the bear's claw and up its arm into its body. When the Samurai Grandmaster's blade left the bear's body, the large beast roared loudly in pain before it shattered into millions of black leafs that scattered around the field. (TLP: 7800)

"Congratulations are in order," Teufel cackled loudly as it lifted up one of its armored fingers. "You drew the first blood… In a manner of speaking."

"Was that an attempt at a joke?" Hardin questioned as she adjusted her hat nervously.

"I may be a bloodthirsty living armor," Teufel admitted as he reached for his duel disk and quickly pushed a button on the duel disk. "But does that mean I cannot perform some manner comedic abilities. In any case, at this point of my monster's destruction, I play the trap card Animal Trail, now one beast type monster is added from my deck to my hand – My choice shall be Swartzvauld Rabbit."

As the card popped into Teufel's hand, Jin nodded as he slipped two cards into his duel disk. "Two cards set, then my turn is over with!"

Teufel pulled off another card from its deck and immediately pulled one of the other cards from its hand and slipped it into its graveyard slot. "Now, I use the effect of the Swartzvauld Rabbit, since I possess a beast-type monster on the field, by discarding this card I can take a field spell card from the deck. The card chosen will be Black Forest!

"And now for the last scenery you both shall see – Arise Black Forest!"

As the demonic armor slipped the card into its duel disk's field slot the ground around the three duelists and shivering little, experiment girl. All of a sudden, several tree sprouts erupted from the floor and grew into several ebony colored trees that surrounded the four. Several black leaves began to flutter around the field and landed around the four persons of interest.

"Seems like he's using an archetype staple deck," Jin muttered as he held his hand out to catch one of the black leafs in his hand. "Swartzvauld is German for black forest, and looking at all of these creatures, it's easy to see that this field is designed to only help out his monsters."

"That seems to be a standard with decks now-a-days though," Hardin pointed out.

"The Blood ogre is correct though," Teufel replied as he slapped a card onto his duel disk. "Allow me to demonstrate! I call to the field Swartzvauld Bat!"

A loud screech echoed through the air as a large black bat flew above all of the duelists, its wings displayed a pair of outlines of cackling faces (500/500). "When this creature is summoned, by paying eight hundred life points, another Swartzvauld Bat is summoned from my deck." (TLP: 7000)

A second screech belted loudly in the air as a second black bat appeared from the Black Forest's foliage, flying in circles with the original Swartzvauld Bat (500/500). "And I can pay another eight hundred life points in order to summon another Swartzvauld Bat from the deck!" (TLP: 6200)

For a third time, a black bat soared through the air, creating a group of bats over the other creatures on Teufel's field (500/500). "I should also mention that each and every time I summoned a Swartzvauld monster, my Black Forest gained a 'Swartzvauld Counter' and for every 'Swartzvauld Counter', all Swartzvauld monsters gain one hundred extra attack and defense points for each counter!

"And thanks to my mass of summoning, that's six hundred more points for each beast I possess!"

A dark aura began to flow over all five of Teufel's monsters, each of them becoming larger and more feral – With their fur becoming dirtier and more ragged (800/1300 + 300/300) (1200/800 + 300/300) (500/500 + 300/300 x3).

Thirteen shivered visibly before she closed her eyes, "S-SCARY!"

"While that is impressive," Jin stated with his brow narrowed down. "It's still not enough to warrant trouble."

"Then let's fix that," Teufel snickered as it slipped another card into its duel disk, allowing a spell card to appear on the field, allowing a dark blue aura to flow into his feral creatures. "Solidarity! Now, for the slain beasts in my graveyard, all of my feral beasts on my field gain an additional eight hundred attack points!"

All of the woodland creatures on Teufel's field screeched loudly as they grew into monstrous parodies of their former selves, the faces that each of the beasts displayed on their bodies become more decrypted (1100/1600 + 800/0) (1500/1100 + 800/0) (800/800 + 800/0 x3). "Care to take back that comment, Blood Ogre?"

Jin was quiet as he looked at the onslaught of furry creatures.

"I'll take that as a yes," Teufel roared loudly as he threw his hand forward, which made the Swartzvauld Wolves snarl loudly. "Wolves! Feast on the Grandmaster!"

The pack of wolves charged over the field and leapt towards the grizzled samurai. At first, the warrior drew his katana in defense, however, one of the wolves had been faster and latched its jaw around the arm that drew the katana. The grandmaster staggered backwards slightly before the other two wolves tackled into the grandmaster's body. The wolves converged and Hardin removed her hat to use as a shield over Thirteen's eyes as pain-filled cries and scraps of armor flew through the air. (H&JLP: 7800)

"Urk," Jin growled deep in his throat as he watched the wolves saunter away with random bits and pieces of the Grandmanster in their mouths. "Not the smoothest attack I've seen."

"But oh so satisfying," Teufel cackled loudly as it threw its blood covered gauntlet into the air. "Swartzvauld Deer! Take out the other samurai now!"

The feral buck galloped over the field and slammed its antlers into Yaichi's body, and rammed the Japanese warrior into the trees behind both of the opposing duelists. The warrior gagged loudly and shattered into millions of pixels. (H&JLP: 7200)

Jin's eyes widened behind his sunglasses before he held onto his chest, it was almost as if he had just taken a blow to his chest.

"So, it has begun," Teufel said bluntly as it ran a metallic finger on the duel disk. "While I may have existed for a short time on this planet, I find it fascinating that creatures of flesh and blood can be so fragile. A snap of a neck, a stab in the right place, or even a simple push on the back near the stairs is enough to end the existence of you creatures.

"Such is the fragility of life, if I had a tongue, I could almost savor this pain that I caused."

"You talk as if you're immortal," Hardin pointed out with her brown narrowed. "Pain isn't something you should take lightly."

"Why shouldn't I?" Teufel questioned with its helmet tilted slightly. "Those scientists sought to make me into a living creature, but they failed! I'm an imperfect living creature – But, it is that very imperfection that I do not deal with the imperfect sensations that all other living creatures have to deal with.

"I require no sustenance.

"I need no rest.

"And I only learned that the pain that you two fools have inflicted on me is nonexistent. I only have desires to see what these emotions and sensations are on other creatures – if do not have needs for survival, does that not make me dead?

"But, if I can speak, hear, and even best the two of you in a game of pure strategy, would not signify that I am alive? In between life and death, is that not what being immortal is? To have no fear of death, but to experience life's pleasures?"

"It's a sick view on immortality," Hardin replied with her eyes closed. "And just because you think you're in that sick take of immortality you can steal the lives of others?"

"It would be a waste," Teufel answered as it flexed its free armored hand a few times. "The fools I dealt with in here wasted their time and lives in order to create new lives. Their lives were meant to create me so in a sense their lives belonged to me – To take, to destroy, or to enjoy."

"Hmm, what a disgusting view," Jin admitted as he pushed up his glasses. '_Is this really what the boss wanted?'_

"But enough about my pleasures," Teufel cackled with its helmet moving about in a smooth manner. "The female human has yet to taste the pain that I can deliver, Swartzvauld Bat one! Attack the face down monster!"

One of the bats screeched before it swooped down towards the face down monster that was on Hardin's field. The wings slapped into the face down card and forced the card up into the air to reveal a large blue furred rat (1400/1450) that squeaked loudly before the Swartzvauld Bat flew into it and chomped its fangs down onto the rat's body.

However, Hardin held up her hand to her duel disk to pull the card from the device, "The beast you slayed was Giant Rat, Teufel. While your creatures seem to enjoy stealing life, my Giant Rat calls more life. Meaning I can summon an earth monster from my deck with fifteen hundred or less attack.

"And I choose this one!"

Hardin slapped the card she pulled from her deck, allowing a small ring of light to appear on the ground in front of her. From the light emerged a small, cute little warrior dressed in a red British Military uniform with a tall, matching red hat that had a feather charm on the front of the hat. The soldier narrowed its cute eyes and lifted up a popgun musket towards the demonic armor (800/300).

For a moment, both Jin and Teufel stared at the soldier, both of them not expecting to see such an adorable monster from the dark clothed Shadowchaser. While they were a little surprised by the monster, Thirteen was gazing at the toy-like monster with gleaming eyes. "Ooooh! What's that?"

"This is Toy Soldier," Hardin answered warmly towards Thirteen as she placed a hand on top of Thirteen's hair. "And he'll be sure to get rid of the big scary devil."

A small smirk appeared on Jin's face when he saw that, but then that smirk disappeared when he watched Teufel raise his hand up. "A pointless endeavor, I still have two attacks left! One for your Soldier and one for your life points!

"Swarzvauld Bats! Slay the Toy Soldier and attack the female!"

The two remaining black furred bats dove through the air, both of them aimed directly towards the field in front of Hardin. However, before the two bats could strike, a powerful barrier erupted in between the Toy Soldier and the two bats, swatting the air-born mammals to the side.

Hardin lifted up her hand, and revealed that she held a trap card in between her gloved fingers. "My face down card, Negate Attack. Your onslaught is finished."

After she slipped the card into her graveyard, Hardin turned towards Jin and lowered her head slightly, "I apologize Jin, I would've activated my trap card earlier, but…"

"Say no more, Miss Hardin," Jin interrupted with his hand held up. "You can't win if you cannot give. Besides, it is the basic duty of a gentleman to prevent harm to women and children."

"Uh, right," Hardin coughed with a small bead of sweat rolling down the side of her head. "But, you don't have to keep calling me Miss Hardin. Hardin will do just fine."

"Enough," Teufel huffed loudly as it slipped a single card into its duel disk. "One card set, turn over. Now human female, with your pathetic little monster, I would enjoy to see how you squirm with your choice."

Hardin slowly pulled off the top card from her deck, and immediately tossed the card into the rest of her hand. "There's a saying Teufel that us mortals have – Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do – And while I am no fool, from what I can see and from what I've heard you say, you're the real fool here.

"You were granted the greatest gift of life, and you squander it by taking the lives of those who gave you that very gift? I may not be able to arrest you, but I will not allow you to leave this place to take the lives of others!

"Toy Soldier's effect activates during my stand by phase! I can now special summon another Toy Soldier from my deck!"

In a bright flash of light, a second Toy Soldier emerged on the field (800/300), which also took aim at Teufel with its toy musket. "And there's more! Since I have another Toy Soldier out, I can use its effect to call out the third one from my deck!"

For a third time, another solder appeared on the field, and like its fellow comrades, aimed the musket towards Teufel (800/300).

"Three small weaklings," Teufel cackled to himself. "At least when I called upon my monsters, they strengthened themselves to become the feral creatures that they became."

"Then allow me to change that," Hardin announced as she pushed a button on her duel disk. "I play my spell card, the A. Forces!"

A powerful blue aura crept onto the field, empowering each of the Toy Soldiers, making their gazes narrow down at Teufel (800/300 + 600/0 x3). "Now, the larger my army, the stronger they become! And if you require another demonstration, allow me to show you again!

"I summon Toy Drummer in attack mode!"

The rap-a-tat-tat of a drum began to echo through the black forest, allowing another Toy Soldier to march up alongside its comrades, the only difference with this one was that this soldier had a small drum that was strung around its body (0/1600 + 800/0) (1400/300 + 200/0 x3).

"You continue to litter the field with these foolish creatures?" Teufel questioned with its arms crossed. "Are you attempting to overrun me with weaklings?"

"You could say that," Hardin replied as she slipped a card from her hand into her duel disk. "But at the moment, I'll use Drummer's abililty. Once per turn, by discarding a card from my hand, my Drummer instills morale in all Toy monsters, and allows them all the courage to face a creature as vile as you!

"CHARGE!"

All three of the Toy Soldiers marched over the field, their muskets raised up.

"If you wish to destroy the pathetic army that you have established," Teufel cackled loudly as it lifted up its arm towards it's army of beasts. "Beasts of the Swartzvauld! Slay her army!"

All of the dark beasts on Teufel's field snarled loudly, however, the Toy Soldiers just ran past the beasts, surprising each and every one of them. Teufel stepped back when he realized that all of popguns were aimed at him. The three Toy Soldiers pulled the triggers on the muskets, sending several corks through the air and hitting the demonic armor in its chest, shoulder and helmet – Which made the armor stagger backwards a few feet. (TLP: 3800)

However, as Teufel recovered from the surprising attack, the armor realized that the Toy Drummer was in front of him now. However, before Teufel could say a word, the tiny, instrument playing soldier leapt into the air and slammed the bottom of its boot into Teufel's helmet, sending the piece of armor through the air and disappear into the trees of the Black Forest. "You lousy little…!" (TLP: 3400)

"YAY!" Thirteen cheered loudly.

"In case you didn't notice," Hardin stated as she slipped a card into her duel disk's spell and trap card zones. "My drummer allows all toy monsters to attack you directly, although, the battle damage is cut in half. However, that's fine since the A. Forces card witch did double their attack points. And with one set card, I shall end my turn."

The now headless Teufel cackled loudly as it pulled off the top card from its deck, giving it three cards in its hand. "Tell me, how does it feel to aim to kill? I could almost taste the malice in each of those previous attacks that you launched at me…"

"You're mistaken," Hardin answered back. "What you mistake for malice was righteousness, there's a difference between the two."

"Ooh, interesting, is righteousness another sensation that I was born without?" Teufel cackled loudly as it slipped a card into its duel disk. "But enough about that, Card destruction activates! Now, all of us discard our hands and draw the same cards!"

Teufel tossed the two cards from its hand, Hardin slipped the last card in her hand into the graveyard, and Jin slid his three into the graveyard. That's when all of the duelists pulled out the same cards from their deck, but two bright lights popped out of Teufel's graveyard slot. "However, the two cards I discarded were known as Swartzvauld Moles, and when sent to the graveyard, I gain the ability to draw an additional card. So, two more cards."

"Mr. Alphonse," Hardin stated with a raised eyebrow. "How do you suppose he's able to see?"

"In all honesty, I have no clue," Jin admitted.

"Does it matter?" Teufel questioned as it ran a steel finger on the cards in its hands. "I don't seem to think so. Now, another spell card – Hunting Season! Now, all beast, beast-warriors and winged-beast monsters on my field are destroyed!"

All five of the beasts on Tefuel's field screeched out loudly in pain before they all shattered into millions of black leafs that flew into the neck-hole in Teufel's armor. "And for each one that was destroyed, I recover five hundred life points! So, I'll gain twenty-five hundred life points!" (TLP: 5900)

"Great, there goes all of that hard work," Hardin admitted with a loud sigh.

"My field may be barren at the moment," Teufel cackled as it slipped another card into its duel disk. "But it'll soon change, I play the spell card Pot of Avarice! Now, by returning two of my Swartzvauld Bats, Swartzvauld Bear, Swartzvauld Deer and one Swartzvauld Mole back to my deck, I can draw two new cards."

As the cards flew from the graveyard slot, Teufel watched as the deck shuffle itself before the demonic armor pulled off the top two cards from its deck. "Now, watch as I play a third spell card, one known as Wild and Free! So, I can now take back two Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged-beast creatures from my graveyard. I choose the remaining Swartzvauld Bat and Swartzvauld Wolves!"

Teufel pulled the cards from the duel disk's graveyard slot and tucked them into its hand. "But before I play them, I play my trap card – Black Forest Foliage. Now, since I possess no monsters, a level three or lower beast, beast-warrior or winged-beast monster I summoned to my field. So arise Swartzvauld Mole!"

The ground in front of Teufel pulled back to reveal a rather cute little black furred mole that had a large tuft of white fur on its chest (300/900 + 800/0 + 400/400). "And of course my field gains an additional Swartzvauld Counter. But, I'm not done, not by a long shot! I summon Swartzvauld Bat back to the field! Then I'll use its effect as soon as its summoned I'll use its effect to summon the second one, and then there'll be the third one!" (TLP: 4300)

Three screeches bellowed through the air as all three of the bats flew around the field over the Mole (500/500 + 800/0 + 700/700 x3) (1500/1300 + 300/300). Thirteen hid herself behind Hardin's body, shivering at the sight of all of the large scary beasts that Teufel summoned. "Now, for the topper, since I possess at least two other Swartzvauld monsters, I can summon Swartzvauld Wolves from my hand!"

Several howls echoed through the air before the diabolic wolves reappeared on the field, each of them snarling loudly as the many black leafs from the Black Forest floated about the field (1200/800 + 800/0 + 800/800) (2000/1200 + 100/100 x3) (1800/1600 + 100/100). "Now, I have an army of monsters to my name. Each of them more than able to tear through the army you possess, human female."

"Yes, they would," Hardin admitted as she pushed a button on her duel disk, and a powerful force of gravity loomed over the field, making all of the soldiers on her field kneel down and making all of the beasts on the demonic armor's field fall to the ground (save for the Swartzvauld Mole that popped out of its hole). "If I didn't activate Zero Gravity, switching the battle positions of all monsters on the field. So your army has been stopped in their tracks.

"And by the way, it's more of a zoo."

"How correct you are," Teufel admitted as it lifted one of the two remaining cards from its hand into its duel disk. "So, I think I'll continue what I was going to do. You see, I was only aiming to put more counters on my field spell, for I am about to bring out the strongest creature I possess! I play Dark Nature Fusion! Now, by sending one Swartzvauld Bat, the Swartzvauld Mole, the Swartzvauld Wolves and a second Swartzvauld Deer in my hand, I can summon out a creature that has no parallel!"

Several black roots erupted from the ground, and immediately wrapped around the mentioned creatures, including Swartzvauld Deer that appeared mysteriously over the field. The beasts all tried to struggle to free themselves from the grasps of the roots, however, the roots pulled them into the ground with several beastly, pain filled cries echoing from the ground.

Then slowly, several more black roots erupted from the ground and slowly formed into a small dome of roots. For a moment, a loud roar blasted from the roots, and several bulges appeared in the makeshift dome. Then all of a sudden, the roots were blown away and were sent flying through the air.

However, the creature that was in the midst of the remains of the roots wasn't what Hardin, Jin or even Thirteen expected…

MEW!

Amongst the roots was a small, black furred fox that had a white collar of fur around its neck with a pair of white tails wagging behind it. The fox yawned loudly before it curled up in a ball, its tails being used as pillows.

"… You seriously do have odd tastes in monsters," Jin pointed out blinking a few times. "And with a monster like that that has four fusion monster components…"

"I shall concede that Swartzvauld Chimera isn't the most intimidating," Teufel stated with a wag of its finger. "But, that's only at first. You see, its attack and defense are determined by one thing – The number of Beast, Winged-Beasts and Beast-Warriors that I possess in my graveyard, and for each one, my Chimera grows stronger and stronger by four hundred points!

"Awaken!"

Teufel's words awoke the small fox, and it jumped to its feet with an extremely large roar that was surprising to the others in the darkness game made Black Forest. At a rapid rate, the fox's body began to grow larger and larger, which allowed the beast to stand on its hind legs to reveal that its legs that now resembled that of a bear's legs. At the chest of the fox's body was another head, this one was that of one of the Swartzvauld Bat's. The beast's arms sprouted a pair of wolf heads and atop of the original fox head was a pair of familiar menacing antlers (0/0 + 2400/2400 + 800/0 + 900/900) (2100/1300 + 100/100 x2).

"Holy…" Jin muttered under his breath.

"Fantastic," Hardin stated with her tongue dripping with sarcasm.

"Have a taste of pain," Teufel cackled as it pulled a card from the top of its deck. "But before that, thanks to sending my Mole back to the graveyard, I gain the ability to draw another card from my deck. But enough of that, time to destroy those lousy little wimps!

"Destroy the drummer!"

The Chimera roared loudly before it lifted one of its front claws and swiped down on the Toy Drummer, shattering the small creature into millions of shards. Hardin staggered back slightly as the force of the attack. "URK!"

"Be glad that your monster was defending you," Teufel cackled as it crossed its arms. "Turn end."

"Your creature may be mighty," Jin stated as he drew his next card and held it up to his eyes. "But all titans will topple. I play the spell card, Smashing Ground! Now your beast shall be destroyed!"

The ground began to shake violently, and just like that, the ground opened up and devoured the chimera.

"Easy come, easy go," Jin stated.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Teufel stated as it slipped a pair of cards into its duel disk. "However, by simply discarding a second Swartzvauld Bat and Swartzvauld Mole from my deck…"

The ground cracked once again, unleashing the mighty Swartzvauld Chimera (4100/3300 + 800/800 + 100/100) making the Swartzvauld Bats quiver slightly (2200/1400 + 100/100 x2). "My Chimera returns! It's an invincible creature! No matter what you try you cannot destroy my creature of the black forest!"

"… If that's the case," Jin stated with a smirk on his face. "I shall be more than glad to do defeat your monster without destroying it!"

"What?" Teufel growled loudly as Jin threw his arm over to the side.

"I play the spell card, Reinforcement!" Jin announced as he fitted the spell card into his duel disk, allowing another card to pop out of his deck. "Now, one warrior will come to my hand, but then he'll appear on the field! I summon Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi!"

A bright yellow and white flag fluttered in front of Jin, and immediately pulled away to reveal a sleek young samurai dressed in dull green armor with yellow neon lights all over it with. In his hands was a long gleaming katana that glowed brightly as he aimed it towards Teufel (1700/700). "Next, I play my trap card, Return of the Six Samurai! Now, I can summon another Six Samurai – So return my Grandmaster!"

Jin's face down card shattered to reveal the grizzled, elder samurai, the katana in his hands held right next to Enishi's (2100/800). With two more warriors, the Toy Soldiers (800/300 + 1000/0 x3), Enishi (1700/700 + 1000/0) and the Grandmaster himself (2100/700 + 1000/0) all grew stronger thanks to Hardin's Allied Forces spell card. "Now, I use Enishi's effect! Since I possess another Six Samurai monster, one monster on your side of the field gets bounced back to your hand! Or in this case, your extra deck! Enishi! Return that monstrosity back from whence it came! Now, all I have to do is remove Yaichi and Yariza from my graveyard to do so!"

As Jin pulled out the cards from his duel disk's graveyard and pocketed them, Enishi leapt through the air towards the Swartzvauld Chimera.

However, just as the warrior was about to strike the monstrous beast, several black roots erupted from the ground and immediately wrapped around Enishi's body, tightening around the warrior's body. Teufel cackled as he lifted two cards from his duel disk. "Fool, you fell into my trap! So pitiful!"

"But you don't have any set cards on the field!" Jin countered.

"Oh, I don't need them," Teufel cackled loudly as it slipped two cards into its duel disk, making the Chimera look a little less demonic (4200/3400). "You see, thanks to Dark Nature Fusion, should my monster be targeted by spell, trap or monster effects, by simply returning two beasts, beast-warriors or winged-beasts from my graveyard back to my deck – Namely my Swartzvauld Moles – I can negate that effect and destroy that card!"

The roots tightened and immediately crushed the futuristic samurai into millions of pixels.

Jin's eyes widened. The Blood Ogre then looked down at the few cards in his hand, there was nothing that could bring Enishi back, and his face down card would only make the situation worse. "… Turn end. And that means Grandmaster is destroyed due to the effect of my trap."

The Grandmaster merely just faded away, which allowed Teufel to draw its next card easily and quickly. "I've grown tired of dealing with you two fools, I play the spell card – Dark Hole! Now, all monsters on the field will be destroyed!"

"But thanks to your monster's ability…" Hardin muttered under her breath.

A powerful force of darkness appeared in the middle of the field, drawing in all of the monsters on the field into it – All three of the Toy Soldiers, the two Swartzvauld Bats and the Swartzvauld Chimera were destroyed by the surge of gravity. Teufel cackled loudly as it lifted up two more cards from its deck and slipped them into its duel disk's graveyard slot. "It comes back even stronger!"

A loud roar echoed through the air as a majority of the black trees were combed back to unleash an even more demonic version of the Chimera (4200/3400 + 1600/1600 + 100/100 = 5900/5100)

"And the two cards I sent to the graveyard," Teufel announced as he plucked two more cards from its deck and into its hand. "Were my Swartzvauld Moles, so two more draws for me, not that I need them. Now for the moment that I've been waiting for…

"SWARTZVAULD CHIMERA! ATTACK THE HUMAN FEMALE DIRECTLY!"

The Chimera roared loudly as it charged over the field, its eyes filled with bloodlust and its claws raised to prepare for its attack on Hardin. Thirteen cringed as the Chimera drew closer, however, before the beast could strike, Hardin grabbed the small girl and threw her towards Jin at the last second. "CATCH!"

Jin quickly held out one of his large hands and caught Thirteen in his palm, but he quickly turned his attention back to the Shadowchaser, "Miss Hardin!"

The claws of the beast slammed into Hardin's torso, the force flew her backwards towards the trees. With a loud slam, Hardin bounced off the trees and fell to the ground with a loud wham, the cards in her hand had spilled to the ground in front of her and she wasn't moving. (H&JLP: 1300)

"NO!" Thirteen yelped out loudly as she struggled to get out of Jin's grip (and failing at it).

"Miss Hardin!" Jin shouted as he began to step towards Hardin.

"Cease and desist," Teufel snarled loudly as the shadowy fog reappeared around its body. "If you walk over to the human female, Blood Ogre, you will be breaking the rules of giving help to your teammate. Then both of you shall be devoured by the darkness and I shall destroy that sniveling little runt.

"And with the human female out of commission, we shall skip her…"

"I'm not down."

Jin, Teufel and Thirteen turned back to Hardin who was slowly pushing herself off the ground, her overcoat slightly ripped, but other than that, she didn't seem to show any external pain, not even when she stood up straight.

"WHAT?" Teufel roared in surprise. "How are you even awake? With the force and power behind that attack, no normal mortal female should be able to withstand that pain!"

"Do you think I'm fragile just because I'm a woman?" Hardin questioned with her eyes narrowed behind her glasses.

"MISTER!"

Hardin blinked a few times when Thirteen jumped from Jin's hands and grasped onto Hardin's waist, tears in the corners of the girl's eyes. "Y-You really are an angel, right?"

Jin pushed up his glasses when he heard the small girl's claim, '_Indeed, it almost looks as though she didn't take any damage from the attack… I know that Shadowchasers are trained to take hits, but still…'_

Hardin tussled Thirteen's hair slightly before she smiled brightly, "I'm just built well. Pain like that won't keep me down."

"Then I'll just have to make the pain even worse," Teufel snarled as it slipped one of the remaining cards from its hand into its duel disk. "One card set, now human female, if you're so well built, come at me! My Chimera will take on anything you call upon!"

Slowly, Hardin pulled off the top card from her deck and looked at the three cards in her hand, "If you wish, then shall accommodate! I summon Toy Magician!"

Several streamers flew through the air, and announced the arrival of a purple armored mage with a cute, wand with a light-bulb on the end of it and red hair poking out of its pointed hat (1600/1500).

"Oh, how foolish," Teufel cackled as it pushed a button on its duel disk, making the face down card that the demonic armor set last turn flip up. "When you summon that monster, I can instantly activate the trap card – Torrential Tribute! Now all monsters on the field are destroyed!"

As the trap card lifted, a powerful torrent of water gushed out of the card and crashed into the field that swept away both the Toy Magician and Swartzvauld Chimera into the Black Forest's trees. Teufel pulled out two cards from its deck and slipped them into its deck, "I discard Swartzvauld Deer and Swartzvauld Momonga from my deck! So a familiar face returns!"

The ground parted once again, unleashing the mighty Swartzvauld Chimera back onto the field, now with a second pair of antlers and two pairs of bat wings now atop of its back (6800/6000). The beast snarled loudly as drool began to drip from its maw. "You only sealed your fate human female…"

"You'd think that," Hardin stated as she held up a card from her hand and immediately slipped it into her duel disk's graveyard slot. It was then that her face down card shot up, revealing a trap card that displayed several Toy Magicians and Toy Soldiers marching down a familiar New York street with snow falling down from the sky. "But I play my trap card – March of the Toys! Now, by discarding one card from my hand, all level four or lower Toy monsters are summoned out from my graveyard!"

The trap card glowed brightly as several drum beats echoed through the air, and from the trap card the three Toy Soldiers, the Toy Magician and the Toy Drummer all marched back onto the field (800/300 + 1000/0 x3) (1600/1500) (0/1600 + 1000/0). The soldiers raised their popguns, the magician held up its wand, and the drummer began to play its drum quickly. "And with my army of toys out, I can use Toy Drummer's effect once again! By discarding the last card in my hand, all toy monsters can attack you directly!"

Hardin slipped the last card in her hand into her duel disk, and the Toy Drummer drummed loudly, allowing all three of the soldiers to run forward, running past the Chimera and lifted up their guns towards Teufel once again. "What? NO! STOP!"

All three of the Toy Soldiers fired off their guns, all three of the shots slammed into Teufel's body, making the armor stagger back a few feet. (TLP: 1600)

"Toy Drummer!" Hardin commanded as the small drummer rushed over the field and leapt towards the demonic armor.

Teufel raised its arm up to swat the Toy Drummer, however, the small warrior managed to dodge the attack and slammed its foot into Teufel's stomach, sending the armor skidding back. "GARGH! DAMN YOU!" (TLP: 1100)

When the three Toy Soldiers and lone Toy Drummer retreated, Teufel cackled loudly, "Not bad, human female… But, you miscalculated. Even if you attack me with that weird wizard of yours, you'll be nothing more than a sitting duck for my Chimera! No cards in your hand, nothing to protect you!

"This struggle is over!"

"… I'd have to agree," Hardin stated as she reached into her duel disk's graveyard. "Which is why I saved this little number from when I first used my Drummer's effect, I activate the effect of the trap card – Skill Successor! Now by removing the card from play, my magician gains an additional eight hundred attack points!"

A powerful red aura surged around the Toy Magician's body (1600/1500 + 800/0), making the sage spin the wand it its hand before it pointed the bulb topped wand towards Teufel. The armor shook slightly as the bulb began to glow brighter and brighter as the seconds passed, until a powerful beam of shot out of the wand and into Teufel's chest. "WhAt? !"

As the beam struck Teufel in the chest, the Swartzvauld Chimera roared loudly in pain as it and the forest began to wither away. Teufel screamed loudly as its was thrown off its feet and flew backwards onto the ground, its chest armor smoking from where the attack struck. (TLP: 0)

However, the smoke didn't stop from there, from all over Teufel's body smoke began to rise from everywhere. As the Darkness around the four began to recede, Hardin, Thirteen and Jin noticed that even Teufel's helmet was smoking as well.

"Wow…" Thirteen cooed loudly as she watched the smoke disappear from the armor and then from the air itself. "That was amazing Mister Angel!"

"Indeed, it was rather impressive, Miss Hardin," Jin admitted as he walked towards Hardin who sighed loudly. "Are you alright though? You took a brutal attack a few minutes ago and…"

"I'm fine," Hardin scoffed slightly as she pushed up her glasses a few times. "Like I said, I took worse pain before. And, could you two just call me Hardin? That's all I ask."

"My apologies," Jin stated with a slight bow of his head to Hardin. '_Still, this is an odd Shadowchaser, what is she made of?'_

"Hardin?" Thirteen questioned as she squeezed Hardin's thin waist. "You're not hard, you're soft!"

Hardin sighed again as she walked over to the armor remains of Teufel (with Thirteen still clung around her waist), '_Is the BackDraft Corps trying to create things like Teufel? Living, demonic armors? I should probably take the journal that I got, along with a sample of the armor, back to HQ. I'll also have to get a few policemen over here just to make sure that the area doesn't get compromised…_

'… _Wait a second…'_

Hardin stood up straight and turned towards Jin, "… Mr. Alphonse, correct?"

"Yes?" Jin replied simply.

"May I ask why you are here?" Hardin asked simply.

"Of course," Jin answered as he pushed up his sunglasses with one of his huge fingers. "You see, I was an acquaintance of one of the researchers here. I hadn't heard from him in a few days, and I came to investigate. I was rather surprised at the fact of what I saw upstairs – Not the prettiest of sights.

"I had no idea I would run into that unsightly armor as I checked the upstairs."

Hardin stared at Jin for a few moments before she sighed loudly, "Very well, after what you did to help me out, I'll let it go. However, I am going to have to request that you vacate the premises – This is a crime scene and I have to alert the police immediately about this."

Jin was silent before he slowly walked past Hardin and Thirteen. "Very well, I have no reason to be here anymore. Now that my acquaintance has passed on, I have to inform a few people. I trust that you don't require my assistance?"

Hardin stood there silently (Thirteen was making enough noise to ruin the dramatic effect though), but slowly nodded towards Jin. "Not like you're a shadowkind in my jurisdiction."

"Then, I bid you adieu," Jin replied with a wave of one of his hands.

A few moments later, as Jin was heading towards his jeep, his brow narrowed, '_There is no reason to cause a ruckus with the Shadowchasers, at least not this early. Besides, I garnered the documents that I needed before that dreadful Teufel interrupted me. _

'_At least the plans are slowly moving according to schedule…'_

TBC

**TTTTTTTTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Animal Trail / Normal Trap / Effect:** When a monster on your side of the field is destroyed as a result of battle, you may add one Beast-type monster from your deck to your hand.

**Image:** A beaten down path in the woods with a pair of eyes gleaming from the grass

**Toy Soldier / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 800 / DEF: 300 / Warrior/Effect:** During your Standby Phase, you can Special Summon 1 'Toy Soldier' in Attack Position from your deck.

**Description:** a small, cute little warrior dressed in a red British Military uniform with a tall, matching red hat that had a feather charm on the front of the hat.

_The previous two cards were used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime._

**Toy Drummer / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 1600 / Warrior/Effect:** While this card is on the field or in the graveyard, treat this card's name as 'Toy Soldier'. Once per turn, during your First Main Phase, by discarding one card from your hand, all level four or lower 'Toy' monsters on your side of the field can attack your opponent's life points directly (During the turn this effect is used, all battle damage done by 'Toy' monsters is halved).

**Description:** A toy soldier with a small drum and drumsticks instead of a musket.

**March of the Toys / Continuous Trap / Effect:** Discard one card. Special summon as many level four or lower 'Toy' monsters from your graveyard to your side of the field. If this card is removed from the field, destroy all monsters that were summoned with this effect.

**Image:** a trap card that displayed several Toy Magicians and Toy Soldiers marching down a familiar New York street with snow falling down from the sky

**Swartzvauld Deer / Dark / LV. 3 / ATK: 800 / DEF: 1300 / Beast/Effect: **When this card is successfully special summoned and you have no other monsters on your side of the field, you may add one 'Swartzvauld' monster card from your deck to your hand.

**Description: **a full grown deer buck with smoky-black colored fur and ebony antlers that seemed to resemble that of a scary face

**Swartzvauld Bear / Dark / LV. 5 / ATK: 1900 / DEF: 1700 / Beast/Effect:** If you have only one face up 'Swartzvauld' monster (other than 'Swartzvauld Bear'), you may normal summon this card from your hand without tribute.

**Description:** a large black bear stood up on its hind legs the most interesting aspect about the beast was that on the bear's chest was what appeared to be several tufts of white furred that formed into a smirking face

**Swartzvauld Wolves / Dark / LV. 3 / ATK: 1200 / DEF: 800 / Beast/Effect:** If you have two or more 'Swartzvauld' monsters on your side of the field (other than 'Swartzvauld Wolves') you may special summon this card from your hand.

**Description:** a trio of black furred wolves that had streaks of white fur around their fur to resemble scars

**Swartzvauld Rabbit / Dark / LV. 2 / ATK: 200 / DEF: 1200 / Beast/Effect:** By discarding this card from your hand while you control a face up Beast-type monster on the field, you may add one Field Spell card from your deck to your hand.

**Description: **A small black rabbit with a pair of white ears.

**Swartzvauld Mole / Dark / LV. 1 / ATK: 300 / DEF: 900 / Beast/Effect:** When this card is sent to the graveyard, draw one card from your deck.

**Description:** A black furred mole with a small tuft of white fur around its neck.

**Swartzvauld Bat / Dark / LV. 3 / ATK: 500 / DEF: 500 / Winged-Beast/Effect:** This card is considered a Beast-type monster. When this card is summoned and you only control 'Swartzvauld' monsters, you may pay 800 life points to summon one 'Swartzvauld Bat' from your deck. During the turn this effect is used, monsters summoned with this effect cannot be used in Synchro Summon.

**Description:** a large black bat with its wings displayed a pair of outlines of cackling faces

**Black Forest / Field Spell / Effect:** As long as there is a face up 'Swartzvauld' monster on the field, this card cannot be destroyed by card effects. Each time a 'Swartzvauld' monster is summoned to the field, place one 'Swartzvauld Counter' on this card. For each 'Swartzvauld Counter' on this card, increase the ATK and DEF of all 'Swartzvauld' monsters by 100 points.

**Image:** A large forest with ebony trees and black leafs.

**Hunting Season / Normal Spell / Effect:** Destroy all face up Beast, Beast-Warrior and Winged-Beast type monsters on your side of the field. For each monster that was destroyed, increase your life points by 500 points.

**Image:** Several nervous hunters being surrounded by Battle Ox, Gene-Warped Warwolf and other enraged beast-warriors

**Wild and Free / Normal Spell / Effect: **Select and add two Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged-Beast monsters from your graveyard with 1500 or less ATK.

**Image:** Several Silver Fangs howling to the moon.

**Dark Nature Fusion / Normal Spell / Effect:** Select one Beast, Winged-Beast, or Beast-Warrior Fusion monster in your extra deck and send the selected materials from your hand or field to the graveyard and special summon the selected fusion monster from your extra deck (this is considered a Fusion Summon). Once per turn, when your opponent activates a spell, trap or Monster Card effect that targets a face up Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged-Beast Fusion monster on your field and you have this card in your graveyard, by returning two Beast, Winged-Beast, or Beast-Warrior monsters in your graveyard back to your deck, you may negate the activation of the spell and trap card and destroy it.

**Image:** Several polymerization cards being wrapped around in

**Black Forest Foliage / Trap / Effect:** This card can only be activated when you have no monsters on your side of the field. Special summon one level 3 or lower 'Swartzvauld' monster from your graveyard in defense mode. A monster special summoned with this effect has its effect negated.

**Image:** Several Swartzvauld Wolves erupting from black leafed bushes.

**Swartzvauld Chimera / Dark / LV. 12 / ATK: ? / DEF: ? / Beast/Fusion/Effect:** [4 'Swartzvauld' monsters with different names] This card can only be special summoned via Fusion Summon or by its own effect. This card's effects cannot be negated. For each Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged-Beast in your graveyard, this card gains 400 ATK and DEF. When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, by sending two 'Swartzvauld' Cards from your deck, you may special summon this card from your graveyard.

**Description:** A small cute black, two-tailed fox with a collar of white fur – While behind the cute creature is a large, demonic and ominous shadow with several yellow eyes leering down at the fox.

**TTTTTTTTT**

_**Next time on DCC!**_

_**We don't follow the exploits of the Shadowchasers, and instead follow the path of another who does have a past with Shadowkind, doesn't follow the path of justice.**_

_**Rather, she follows the path of her dream…**_

_**Wrought with trials left and right, what will this person do in the face of her dreams?**_

_**And who is this mysterious person?**_

_**Find out next time on Dark City Chronicles:**_

_**Draw 6**_

_**Deep Sea Diva **_


	7. Draw 6: Deep Sea Diva

_**Ever since I was a little one, I have always had a single dream – And that was to become a champion at something. And after all this time, I have finally acquired the skills and what I need to attain that dream. **_

_**No matter how anyone gets in my way, I will never surrender and I will not allow myself to fail. It may seem like saying something like that would not be probable, and I admit that I'm not perfect enough to say that I won't face hardships in my quest for greatness, but no matter what, I will not let my dream fall.**_

_**After all, this dream of mine isn't just for me – No, it's for more than just a selfish dream, it's for the one person who helped me attain what I needed to get this far. I swear to fulfill these goals for him…**_

_**For you, my brother…**_

_**I hope you're watching me, from wherever you are now…**_

_**TTTTTTTT**_

_**Draw 6**_

_**Deep Sea Diva **_

_**TTTTTTT**_

_Time: 8:13 p.m._

_Location: Shadowchaser'sBase – Brooklyn Branch, Living Room_

It had been a few hours since Hardin had to deal with Teufel's demonic pleasures, but it didn't take long for the NYPD to get to the scene. Of course, when Hardin had reported the scene, she made sure to request Lynne Wystern to arrive so that there would be no problem with explanations and such.

Of course, there was a need to answer a few questions, some of them referring to the bloodied armor and Thirteen who had clung around Hardin's waist throughout the entire questioning. But, eventually, the dark clothed Shadowchaser was allowed to leave and head back to the main base…

… However…

"Great, another runt," Taiga sighed loudly as she fell into the couch of the living room. "And Kuroi was already getting on my nerves."

Hardin narrowed her gaze at Taiga as she felt Thirteen hide behind her, "Enough Taiga, what was I supposed to do? She doesn't seem to want to get too far from me…"

"Yeah! Bleh!" Thirteen added with her tongue sticking out at Taiga.

A small blood vessel appeared on the side of Taiga's head when she saw Thirteen's tongue stuck out at her. "You lousy little…"

"That's enough Taiga," Hardin scolded with her eyes narrowed down at the cat eared Shadowchaser, and then turned her gaze towards Thirteen who was pulling down her lower eyelid as well. "And Thirteen, don't provoke her."

"I'm sorry," Thirteen muttered with a downcast look.

"In any case, Taiga," Hardin continued as she turned back to Taiga. "Where's Irving? And by that same matter, where's our guest, Mr. Vayne?"

"Irving went out to get Kuori from the hospital," Taiga explained as she lifted up the remote control from the nearby coffee table. "And the grizzled old coot's in the study, looking over some cases that Irving gave him before he headed out. Why, you wanna ask Irving if you can keep your new pet?"

"Very respectable Taiga," Hardin replied as Taiga pushed a button on the remote and turned on the television in the living room. "There's a matter that I need to discuss with Irving concerning the tip you got from your sources. I think that the BackDraft Corps have been aiming to create some sort of artificial soldiers in order to bolster their…"

"Blah, blah, blah," Taiga spat as she used her free hand to mock a mouth moving. "Mind keeping quiet for a while? I'm watching the highlights from the duel last night."

"Highlights?" Thirteen questioned with a few blinks of her eyes. "What are those Mister?"

Hardin sighed loudly as she led Thirteen towards another chair in the room, "They just basically tell what happens with events – Like sporting events, or even dueling."

"Ooh! Does that mean we'll see you on the glowing box?" Thirteen questioned pointing towards the television. "You dueled earlier and…"

"Don't hold your breath, kid," Taiga interrupted as she waved the remote a few times in the air. "The highlights only show pro duelists – And while me and Hardin are on equal footing with some of these so-called 'pros', we're not the ones getting paid or getting our faces out in the public spotlight."

"W-What?" Thirteen asked with several question marks popping over her head. "Public spotlight? Pro duelist?"

"Don't worry Thirteen, I'll explain it later to you," Hardin explained as she sat Thirteen in the chair, Hardin on the other hand sat on the armrests.

"Welcome to NYC News!" The overly chipper announcer declared from the television screen as the camera zoomed in on her. "And as you just saw, that was the duel of last night – Between the current regional champion Leorina Childsman and the up and coming rookie Gerald Strings – And what a match it was! I feel sorry for anyone who missed that duel!"

Taiga nearly crushed the remote in her hands when she heard that, her eyes narrowing down at the TV screen. "…"

"Taiga, take a deep breath," Hardin sighed slightly with a shake of her head. "Remember the last time you got mad at the TV? You threw the remote right into screen and broke it, we don't want to replace the TV again…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Taiga sighed as she tossed the remote down on the table. "Humph, first the Tivo craps out in recording the damn duel, then I don't even get to deal with the information that I had to deal with ninja lame-master Frank with, and now I can't even watch the highlights! Son of a…!"

Hardin quickly placed her hands over Thirteen's ears just before Taiga could finish her sentence.

**TTTTTTTTTT**

_Meanwhile…_

Jin slowly walked through the darkened halls, one of his large hands grasping gingerly at a mass of papers. It had only been a few minutes since he returned to his base, and already he was heading for his boss's room. Although, it didn't take too long for the refined Blood Ogre to make his way to the office, he had been working in the base for the last two and a half years and had already learned the layout of the mysterious building.

Although, when he reached the office, he was rather surprised to see that the door was gone. There was nothing to prevent anyone from walking into the room or provide any sense of privacy for those inside.

So, slowly, Jin raised his hand up and knocked the doorframe with his free hand, "Uh, sir? Are you in?"

"Can we just drop it? He wasn't in the movie!"

Jin staggered back slightly with a raised eyebrow. He instantly recognized that voice, it belonged to his boss. "Uh, sir?"

"And I say that Bill Paxton was in Navy Seals," another voice, one that Jin never heard before, but clearly discerned that it was female. "Look it up if you don't believe me."

"We would, if it wasn't for the fact that you broke my laptop!"

"Not my fault that cheap piece of crap couldn't handle my mad skills."

Jin lowered his head and walked into the office, trying to make sure that he didn't bump into anything in room. "Sir, I hate to interrupt your thrilling conversation but…"

"Great, we can get someone actually intelligent to settle this."

"Indeed, Jin, we need you to settle a bet here."

Jin blinked a few times behind his sunglasses before he stared at his boss, his golden blonde hair slightly messy and his eyes narrowed at the other side of the room. "Raiden, sir, I don't think this is really the time or the place for this. I have the items that were requested by our benefactor and…"

"Oh just stuff it, ya big galoot," the feminine voice sounded out ot Jin, drawing the Blood Ogre's attention towards the second person in the room, this one a smaller, thinner person compared to both Jin and Raiden, and dressed in a blue hoodie that covered up the upper part of her body and face (the figure and voice did give it away that this was a woman) and a pair of worn out jeans. "It'll only take a second."

"Very well," Jin sighed again with a roll of his eyes behind his sunglasses. "I can assume that this is referring to the movie, Navy Seals, and if Bill Paxton was in it, right?"

"Yes," Both Raiden and the mysterious girl answered at the same time.

"Unfortunately sir, Bill Paxton was in Navy Seals," Jin answered as he pushed up his sunglasses. "Charlie Sheen was also in that movie if I remember correctly."

"Sonva…" Raiden growled as he grounded his teeth a few times.

"Ha! Pay up golden boy!" The girl laughed loudly as she held her hand up, which Jin took notice that the girl's hand had black claws for the finger nails.

"Fine!" Raiden groaned loudly as he reached into his pocket and slapped a fifty-dollar bill in the girl's hand.

"Easiest fifty bucks I ever earned," the girl cackled as she pocketed the money. "Now then, let's get down to real business. The big guy here has the stuff that my boss wanted, right?"

"I can only assume so," Raiden sighed as he fell back into his chair. "Give her the stuff."

Jin shrugged slightly before he held the papers to the girl. "Here you are madam."

"Madam?" the girl scoffed before she snapped the papers out of the Blood Ogre's hand, and placed her other hand on her hip. "You need to take them shades off and get your eyes check, ogre – I'm a young, sexy lass, then again, I don't think I old codgers like you and golden boy over here to understand that."

"Old codger?" Jin muttered under his breath as he raised a hand to his hair, sure, that streak of white was natural and was slowly spreading, but he wasn't that old.

"Golden boy?" Raiden questioned.

"Anyway, later you two prunes," The girl chuckled as she slowly sauntered out of the office, waving the papers over her shoulder. "I got some plans, and I'll leave it up to your imagination to figure out what they are. And by the way, you'll be getting the goods later, use them well, 'kay?"

As soon as the girl was out of earshot Jin turned towards Raiden and sighed loudly, "Women these days."

"Tell me about it," Raiden moaned as he threw his head back. "In any case, I can assume that you gave her everything that the windbag wanted, right?"

"But of course, sir," Jin replied with a slight bow. "However, it took quite a deal of effort to acquire that research material. Were you aware that those alchemists had experimented with demonic and vampiric blood to create a sadistic living armor?"

"Who knows?" Raiden replied. "If you ran into anything like that, my bad. I didn't know anything save for what those losers gave us – supplements, cash, and other crap. Best not to think too hard on the matter."

Jin pushed up his sunglasses with one of his large fingers, "Well sir, it kind of does warrant some concern. Especially if that one man is involved with this situation, you can never be sure of what he is capable of."

"Yes, but that is of no concern for us," Raiden replied as he stood up from his desk and began to walk towards Jin. "It's a simple case of working with the devils, during the Cold War America sided with a number of allies to prevent the Soviet Union from trying take over other countries. And while there were a number of faults with the aftermath, we're only on a business terms with the windbag. And once our business transactions are over with, we won't have to deal with the same sort of troubles."

"All I am saying sir," Jin retorted with his hands lifted up. "Is to keep an eye on him, I worked with him before and even though he was higher ranked than I in my previous job, my previous boss had more trust in myself than him…"

"Jin, I trust you," Raiden sighed as he stood in front of Jin. "For the past two and a half years, you've shown nothing but loyalty to me and my brother, even if this stupid feud is causing a small rift between me and my brother…"

"Sir…" Jin interrupted.

"Right, don't need to go on another tirade again," Raiden muttered under his breath. "In any case, I'll trust your judgment Jin, but I've been at this game for most of my life – I know a snake when I see them and I know who to and not to trust. As for him… Well, I'm still rendering my judgment."

Jin sighed loudly, "… I'm taking that week off now, please excuse me sir."

"Bring me back a souvenir please!" Raiden requested with a warm smile on his face.

**TTTTTTTT**

_Time: 8:30 p.m._

_Location: Midtown Manhattan, Hudson Bar_

Midtown Manhattan – A major subdivision of the famous borough, and home to a number of world famous hot spots, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, and Broadway. Truly, it was a section of the city where anyone could spend the best hours of their nightlife burning the midnight oil. Tonight was no exception to these trends, the streets were filled with the brim of cars and pedestrians who traversed under the glimmering streetlights. An orchestra of street sounds filled the air, accompanied by the various tunes that poured out of the various clubs and bars that lined the streets.

One such bar was known as the Hudson Bar, situated within the Hudson Hotel, which was one of the more hot and trendy bars that the night owls of the city flocked too. With its up-lit white floors, the large ceiling painting done by Francesco Clemente and the trendy drinks and music filling the atmosphere, it was a place to be where the young could enjoy their youth and widen their horizons.

Although, currently, the entire bar was being rented out to a private party, filling the entire bar to the brim with some of the most eccentric of people – all of them dressed in the latest of fashions and soaking in as much as the festive air as they possibly could.

For what reason?

Well, the reason for the night's festivities was seated at the bar, with a number of the patrons congratulating her. She was young and beautiful, with long blonde hair that was braided all the way down past her backside and ended with a heart like charm tied to her hair. She was dressed in a sea blue dress that hugged her slim figure while having a slit up to her mid right thigh to show her toned legs (they certainly did draw a lot of people's eyes) and a small white jacket. Her face was trim and seemed to be sculpted by the angels themselves, and the smile on her face only added to her beauty.

"Once again, congratulations on your recent win Miss Childsman!"

The young woman blushed slightly as she turned to the side to see that it was a random guest who had congratulated her. "Uh, thank you very much, I really appreciate it."

This was Leorina Childsman, the current regional champion of the United States, she was a young lass who managed to capture the hearts of many people in the country with her rise to fame. It had only been a year and a half since she had started in the American Pro Leagues, however, she had managed to become a rising star on the tracks of the riding duel circuit.

However, while this party was in honor of her latest victory to keep her title and she was the life of the party, she wasn't very interested in being a part of the festivities. Still, she had to put on a happy brave face for her sponsors, supporters and those lucky fans that managed to either be put on the list to get into this party or managed to crash at the last minute.

With one last sip to empty her drink, Leorina sighed loudly before she shook her head. '_Fans, money, and parties that go into the late night – This is what most New Yorkers dream of. All my hard work paid off and still…'_

"Dis-amn Angel Fish! Ya gotta be a bummer at yer own party?" A deep voice sounded right behind Leorina, making the young duelist jump slightly. "That just ain't gunna fly, Angel Fish. Yer a champ! Ya gotta mingle with the high life!"

Spinning around, Leorina was met with someone who definitely stuck out of the party group inside of the Hudson Bar – By a very big contrast. While everyone was dressed in a fancy suit or dress, this tall man was dressed in a fur-lined coat with a black feathered fedora atop of his head of short, messy white hair. Despite his white hair however, this dark skinned man had a muscular body that had a pair of khaki pants and a tank top that hugged his muscular body. And around his thick neck was a long necklace that had a large red and black star-shaped charm whipped as he moved around. "C'mon Angel Fish, show some love for this crowd – They here just fer ya, ya know."

"Jersey, please," Leorina sighed with a slight grimace on her face. "I'm just tired, I'm trying to be cheery, but…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I thought we were clear on the title, Angel Fish," 'Jersey' stated with his hands lifted up, waving them a few times. "Jersey doesn't hit well with the ladies, J Devil on the other hand, now that's a stone cold classic."

"Sure, whatever you say J Devil," Leorina sighed to herself as she pushed her empty glass away on the counter.

Jersey Devins, or J Devil as he referred to himself as, was actually a man who held quite a standing in the American dueling league – Both as a chairman on the main board and as a major contributor to the league, both in funds and in ideas. While the dueling circuit in North America wasn't has hot as it was in Japan a few years back, time and a little bit of elbow grease to this eccentric man has managed to acquire the attention of the American viewing public back onto the dueling scene of America.

However, the man himself…

…

…

… Well, he made conversations all the more interesting…

"Thatta girl," J Devil cackled as he sat down in a seat next to Leorina. "But that aside, damn girl, you are lookin' so fine in that dress. Get that as a gift for your win from your old man?"

"You realize I could claim sexual harassment with that last statement, right?" Leorina questioned with a flat look in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey, that was just a compliment," J Devil nervously replied with his arms crossed in front of him defensively. "No need to play the lawsuit card against the Devil! I got enough on my plate as it is!"

"Just relax J Devil," Leorina chuckled slightly with a roll of her eyes. "I'm not that kind of person, you know that, my fans know that, practically everyone knows that about me. I'm not that cheap of a person."

"Ya never know now-a-days," J Devil sighed with relief.

"So, what's the pleasure of this conversation?" Leorina questioned as she watched the bartender provide a second drink for her.

"Can't a representative of the league just stop by the say congrats on your win?" J Devil questioned as he drew back slightly.

Leorina once again rolled her eyes at J Devil, "From any other representative, yes. From you, not so much."

"That stabs deep girl, real deep," J Devil moaned with his head lowered. "Whatever. It doesn't really matter, keep giving me your cheap shots so they stay off the duel lane – What I came to talk to you about was that one of our ad sponsors had a simple request to meet you. Gotta keep the corporate sponsors happy ya know, can't really say no to them off the bat.

"So, here I am, aiming to get ya to meet him and to get him off of my case."

This was nothing new to Leorina. Ever since she became a pro league duelist she was met with a number of sponsors and fans who wanted a piece of her – Sometimes it would be literally. Sponsors tended to be a bit classier than fans for the most part, at least they didn't weren't hounding her for autographs. "Which sponsor are you talking about? Not to sound ungrateful, but a couple of those guys kinda rub me the wrong way."

"Heh, don't worry," J Devil replied with a sparkling smirk. "This guy's quite legit, he's the representative for that one medical company, Valva… Valvato…"

"Valvatore Corporation," Leorina finished with a droplet of sweat rolling down the side of her head.

"Yeah, that bitching company," J Devil cackled with a wide grin on his face.

The sweat droplet alongside Leorina's head grew slightly, "J, I think you might be over doing it a little bit with this act of yours."

"Act? What act?" J Devil questioned with an eyebrow raised up.

"Never mind," Leorina replied as she swirled the drink in her hand. "So, what does this Valvatore representative want with me?"

"Why don't ya ask the man yourself?" J Devil retorted as he pointed past Leorina. "He's sitting right next to you."

"Indeed I am, I am quite surprise you didn't notice I was right behind you."

Leorina jumped slightly as she spun on her seat to look at the man who sat behind her – With a cocktail glass in his gloved hands, he was a tall, if not slim man dressed in a fancy dark blue business suit with a long white scarf that hung around his neck. He had a chiseled face that was topped off by rich auburn colored hair that was feathered back on his head to show the man's oddly yellow eyes. He smiled after he took a long sip of his cocktail. "Hmm, I didn't even know this place made Manhattans here. Still, a good job…"

The auburn haired man placed his almost finished drink on the counter and slowly turned towards Leorina with his gloved hand extended, "Miss Childsman, it is an honor to make your acquaintance. I am Nathaniel Z. Carine, I am a market representative for the Valvatore Corporation as you no doubt have guessed while you were speaking to your… Colleague?"

"I like to consider myself as one of Leorina's bosses," J Devil cackled loudly as he lifted up a tall glass from the bar.

Leorina rolled her eyes before she took Nathaniel's hand and shook it gently, "It's good to meet you. What can I do for you Mr. Carine?"

"It's nothing too serious," Nathaniel replied as he released Leorina's hand. "Just a business proposal concerning your dueling, the CEO of Valvatore Corp is quite interested in your dueling ability Miss Childsman. I am simply here to make a business proposal."

"Business at a party," Leorina sighed under her breath. "You must be quite the quite the lively partier."

Nathaniel chuckled slightly before he drank the remainder of his Manhattan, "Oh, my apologies. This celebration is to mark your latest victory to maintain your champion duelist status, congratulations on that matter once again. However, we still have an interest in your skills, and I would really like to have a few moments of your time in order to work out a deal with you."

"I don't know," Leorina replied with her eyes closed. "I am committed to my current sponsors and…"

"Oh, I have no interest in sponsoring you in your dueling career," Nathaniel interrupted as he stood up. "Rather, I would like to propose a duel for charity."

"A fundraiser or something?" Leorina questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually," Nathaniel corrected as he placed a card on the bar in front of him. "It concerns your older brother in jail."

Leorina's eyes widened when she heard that, however, before she could confront Nathaniel, the auburn haired man was already walking away from the bar with his arms folded behind his back. Leorina would've given chase after the blue suited man, but he quickly disappeared into the crowds.

With her eyes narrowed, Leorina lifted up the card that the mysterious man had left on the counter, as it turned out, it was a business card that gave the basic information about Nathaniel Z. Carine. But, the young pro flipped the card around and saw that there was a handwritten message on the back that read:

Dear Miss Childsman,

If you want answers, in an hour meet me at the Sky Terrace on the 15th floor.

Be sure to bring your dueling equipment and dress warmly.

From, Nathaniel Z. Carine

'_What in the world is this about?'_ Leorina thought to herself as she looked at the card. She turned towards J Devil to get a few answers, but the eccentric chairman was preoccupied with a fancy little number who had sat next to him at the bar.

Once again, Leorina looked down at the card she held in her hand – Whoever this guy was, he knew of her older brother's prison status, and even she didn't know all the details about his incarceration, all she knew was that roughly three and a half years ago, her older brother was arrested on some weird charges.

"… J," Leorina stated as she tapped the loudly dressed man's shoulder.

"Yeah, Angel Fish?" J Devil chuckled, not taking his sight off of the woman who was sitting right next to him.

"I'm gonna turn in for the night," Leorina replied as she slipped the business card into her jacket's pocket. "Thanks for having this party."

"Aw come on, Angel Fish, ya can't be wanting to leave this party so soon," J Devil complained, turning his head to look at Leorina out of the corner of his vision. "Yer the life of the party! If ya leave, ya take the life with ya!"

"Can you blame me?" Leorina replied with a sigh. "I didn't get any sleep for several hours after the late night duel, I'm practically running on steam at the moment."

"Humph, fine," J Devil replied with a wave of his hand before he turned back to the young woman he was talking with before. "So, how about you slip me your digits girl?"

Leorina rolled her eyes before she walked towards the exit, '_Same old Devin… Acting like a playa, but is really just a little kid desperate for attention. Thank goodness I got a room here with a change of clothes and my stuff.'_

**TTTTTTTT**

_Time: 9:23 p.m._

_Location: Hudson Hotel, Sky Terrance _

The Sky Terrance of the Hudson Hotel was known to be a very beautiful scene in the hotel, giving anyone a breath-taking view of New York City while enjoying the calm serenity that accompanied the terrace's basic design and would be the source of a number of social events during the day to the guests of the Hudson Hotel.

But this was the night, and as such, was closed off to regular guests. Only those with connections and those with deep pockets were able to access the terrace at this time at night, and those who were invited by those very same deep pockets.

"The night is beautiful…"

Standing in front of the doors to the inside of the hotel was none other than Nathaniel Z. Carine, his gaze focused on the moon that pended in the sky above him and his hands folded behind the small of his back. Nathaniel sighed once more as he pulled his left hand up to his eyes to leer at his watch. "Hmm, almost time. And here I was thinking that she would be interested in learning more about…"

"Alright what did you want?"

Nathaniel blinked a few times when he realized that Leorina was standing directly in front of him. With a surprised yelp, Nathaniel staggered back with his arms in the air, "ACK! How'd you do that?"

Leorina shrugged her shoulders, "Science fiction?"

Nathaniel slowly regained his composure and realized that while it was indeed the same girl he had meet down on the ground floor of the hotel, she had changed drastically. Instead of the dress, Leorina was now dressed in a pair of tight black jeans and a long sleeved black shirt with a baggy white jacket with silver trim on it. Around her thin waist were a few white belts, she had her braided hair draped over her right shoulder, and the gentle look in her eyes had melted away to reveal a fierce, but still beautiful, pair of eyes that leered directly at Nathaniel's.

With a slight cough, Nathaniel immediately folded his hands back behind him, "So good you could join me, Miss Childsman. Or can I call you Leorina?"

"Let's keep this formal, shall we?" Leorina replied as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Now, you have information about my brother? How much will it cost me to hear it?"

Nathaniel smiled warmly as he lifted up his hand, allowing a small rod-like device to pop out of his sleeve. A small beep echoed through the air before a holographic screen emerged from the device to display an extensive amount of data, "Oh, I'm not interested in monetary gain, Miss Childsman. I am merely a man who desires to see the happiness of others, and injustices such as yours are things that I seek to right.

"Marcus Childsman, current age – twenty-eight years. Occupation – Former loan shark and manager of S. Reef Lender. Current status – Incarcerated in the countryside of Yorkshire, Britain. List of offenses – My, that's quite a rep-sheet he has…"

"Is that all you had to say to me?" Leorina asked with her eyes slightly narrowed. She had heard this from an official report that her family was given by officials when her brother was arrested a few years back. "I've heard this before."

"No doubt about that," Nathaniel replied as he snapped his arm to the side, recalling the holographic device back into his sleeve. "But don't you think it's strange? That your brother is being forced to live out his punishment in a separate country? Especially since his crimes were committed in the territory of the United States?"

"Well, yes, but I would assume that…" Leorina started.

"Assumptions are not worth mentioning," Nathaniel stated with his finger raised up to Leorina's lips, interrupting her. "Neither is the supposed truth that the so called bringers of justice presented to you. Tell me something Miss Childsman, do you see the real truth? Or are you trapped in the mist, with the truth blockaded from you?"

"What? What kind of nonsense is that?" Leorina questioned as she stepped back slightly.

Nathaniel rolled his head slightly, his smile still on his face. "Miss Leorina, do you remember the days when you first met your brother? Did he not look different when you grew older? Did he not look… More like a creature of fantasy?"

Leorina was about to speak up, but her head pounded slightly. It was if her mind was fighting itself trying to recall what her adoptive older brother looked like when they were kids – A majority of her mind was telling her that he looked just like he did when she last saw him, albeit younger of course.

But…

There was a small part in the back of her mind that was whispering to her that preconception she had were wrong…

"I… I don't know…" Leorina replied as she stepped back slightly.

"I see, so you haven't awaken," Nathaniel sighed as he turned to the side. "Not yet it seems. The truth is at your fingertips, but there is something holding you back. Miss Childsman, would you care to learn the truth? Not just about your brother, but also about this world?"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Leorina questioned.

"What is real?" Nathaniel asked as he raised his hand up towards the sky. "How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

"Let me guess, you're going to offer me the red pill and the blue pill now?" Leorina guessed with a flat look on her face as she kept her hand on her face.

"Of course not," Nathaniel chuckled. "But I am going to offer you a choice Miss Childsman, you are on the edge of discovering the truth of this world, but I am not going to force you to accept this truth. That is your decision.

"You can learn the truth of this world, but I must warn you, that you will not be able to return to your simple life, you'll see a number of people in a different light than you have ever seen before and I will not lie, it will be frightening at times. Or you can remain like as you as right now, on the road to being a champion – Unaware of the challenges that plague this world, and you will never learn the truth behind your brother's incarceration."

Leorina took a deep breath and pulled her hand away from her face, but it was pretty obvious that she was still a little uncomfortable, "Let's say I'm interested in this truth, what would I have to do in order to gain this truth?"

The smile on Nathaniel's face began to grow, "I informed you that I was interested in a deal, in addition, I also requested that you bring your dueling equipment. The truth is a beautiful gem that everyone is entitled to, but it must be earned."

"You want me to duel you to learn the 'truth'?" Leorina questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Are you one of those businessmen who want to make it big by taking down a champion?"

"I never said you would be dueling against me," Nathaniel corrected as he lifted up his free hand. "A duel between champions present and past is what I seek."

Leorina didn't know what that meant, but crossed her arms over her chest, "I'll ask this then, what do you gain?"

"Well, let's just say I'm testing something," Nathaniel explained. "I have a duelist here who needs some 'fine tuning'. Against a fresh champion would be the best test for him, after all, it's been a while since he's dueled."

"Is he a duelist your company is sponsoring?" Leorina questioned as she reached into her pocket.

"More like I'm a private sponsor for this particular duelist," Nathaniel stated. "So, would you be interested in the truth? All it will cost is one little duel."

Leorina sighed loudly as she pulled out a small pocket duel disk from her pocket and lifted it up in front of her, "You're on, but I want to know everything about my brother if I win."

"Oh, but of course," Nathaniel stated as he snapped his fingers loudly. "Now, allow me to introduce your opponent for the evening Miss Childsman. You can come out now sir!"

Footsteps echoed through the air, drawing Leorina's attention to the side, where a third person was slowly walking out from the shadows. When the man stepped into the light, Leorina's eyes widened at the man.

He was rather tall, but was in his late teens or early twenties, and had a slim body that was covered with a black overcoat with white trim and seemed to be lined with sharp edges on it over a tight black shirt and pants. Around his waist was a belt that had a gunmetal gray belt buckle on it with the letter 'R' centered on it. His face, while handsome seemed to have an enraged/sadistic look to it, and was topped with dark blue hair that had three layers to it, with his enraged blue eyes right underneath his bangs.

On his left arm was an older, bulkier duel disk that was a silver color, yet had a dark blue trim to it, and had a deck loaded into it.

For the third time that night, Leorina stepped back, "What the…? How is that even possible!"

"Are you my opponent?" The blue haired man questioned with his sharp eyes narrowed down. "A scared little girl who quivers at the sight of me?"

"Carine, what the hell is this?" Leorina snarled at the blue suited businessman who was now leaning up against the doors that led to the inside of the hotel.

Nathaniel merely shrugged his shoulders, "What seems to be the problem? Not many duelists now-a-days get the chance to duel against the one and only Hell Kaiser – Marufuji Ryo. Not only do you get a chance to duel to learn the truth, you get to test your skills against one of the most powerful duelists of all time."

Leorina took a deep breath, '_Alright, calm down girl, there's no way that this guy is the actual RYO MARUFUJI. It's been generations since the Ryo passed on dueling, even if he were still alive, he'd be an old man. More than likely this guy is just some poser who idolized Ryo…_

'_Still, the guy really does look like the Hell Kaiser.'_

"Whatever you say, Carine. I'll take down this wannabe duelist!"

Ryo's eyes narrowed even more as he lifted up his duel disk, "You'll regret those words, girl. Let's duel!" (RLP: 8000)

"That's my line!" Leorina retorted as she snapped her dueling deck into her duel disk and immediately allowed the device to shuffle the cards. (LLP: 8000)

'_And so it's begun,'_ Nathaniel thought to himself as he folded his hands behind his back again.

"Your choice on who begins," Ryo stated as both duelists pulled off the five cards from their decks.

"Fine by me, you can take the first turn," Leorina replied with her eyes closed. '_The thing about copycats is that they tend to think like the duelists they copy. So, I can guess that this 'Ryo' would probably play the same as the Champion he's copying. I'm not interested in dealing with Cyber Dragons right on the first turn.'_

Ryo was silent as he drew his sixth card and nodded at the cards, "… Very well, then the first move will be this – The spell card, Dark World Dealings! I doubt I have to explain what this card is capable of to you."

"Of course you don't," Leorina replied as she and 'Ryo' plucked a single card from the top of their decks. After a few moments, Leorina pulled one of the six cards from her hand and slipped one of them into her duel disk's graveyard slot. "I'll discard Mermaid Sirens."

"And I'll discard Proto Cyber Dragon," Ryo answered back.

'_Predictable,_' Leorina thought as she watched Ryo look at the last five cards in his hand._ 'Cyber Dragon decks may be cheap as hell, but they make it so easy to see what's coming next.'_

"Now, I summon Cyber Hydra!" Ryo announced as he slapped a card onto his duel disk.

Several roars echoed through the air as several beams of blue light erupted behind Ryo's body, allowing a large, three-headed, futuristic cybernetic dragon erupt behind him connected to a large body that had a single large tail and a pair of short stubby legs on it. All three of the metallic heads aimed their visor covered eyes down at Leorina before they roared once again (2000/1500).

'_Okay, didn't see that one coming,'_ Leorina thought to herself as she looked at the weird creature.

"From the look on your face, you're surprised," Ryo stated as he fitted two cards in his hand into his duel disk, which made them appear in front of him. "If I possess no monsters and have one light machine monster in the graveyard, I can normal summon this card without tribute. Turn end."

"So you've got a new trick up your sleeve," Leorina replied as she drew the top card from her deck. "I'll show you how real pros do this! I summon Cure Mermaid in attack mode!"

Several bubbles fluttered around Leorina's side of the field, immediately allowing a beautiful, golden haired mermaid with a red scaled tail and dressed in a silky blouse. The mermaid smiled brightly before she clasped her hands together (1500/800). "And next, I'll go on the attack! Cure Mermaid! Attack the Cyber Hydra!"

Ryo narrowed his eyes as he watched the Mermaid bring her fingers up to her lips and blew a kiss towards the Cyber Hydra, which created a large pink bubble that was in the shape of a heart that flew towards the Hydra. "It's barely the second turn and you're already trying to insult me?"

"It's called strategy!" Leorina replied as she lifted up a card from her hand. "During the damage step, I can play this! The spell card Shrink! Now your monster loses half of its attack points!"

The large three-headed cyber monster shrunk down to roughly the size of the Cure Mermaid (2000/1500 – 1000/0), and the heart-shaped bubbles crashed into the machine. The three heads roared loudly before the entire monster shattered into millions of pixels that flew past the Hell Kaiser. (RLP: 8000)

"Wait, what in the world…?" Leorina questioned as she looked at the duel disk.

Ryo swiftly drew a card from his deck before he gestured towards one of the face down cards that was on his field that had lifted up – Defense Draw. Leorina sighed to herself as she slipped a card into her duel disk, "Really? You're using a trap like that his early?"

"It wasn't for defense," Ryo stated as he looked over the three cards in his hand. "It was for reinforcements."

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that," Leorina replied as her face down cards appeared in front of her. "Two cards set and I'll end my turn!"

Once again, Ryo was silent as he drew, but then he immediately tossed the card into his hand and threw his hand over the remaining face down card. "At this moment, my trap card activates – Cyber Photon Blaster."

'_Again, another card I haven't seen before,'_ Leorina thought to herself as she watched the card transform into a large three cannoned, cybernetic rover that's resembled Ryo's trademark monster – the Cyber End Dragon. '_This certainly doesn't seem like Ryo Marufuji's style, let alone Hell Kaiser's. If it was, there would be more of a dependence on the Cyber Darks, but seeing as how they belong to Sho Marufuji's family, there's no way that this wannabe would have them.'_

For a moment, Ryo tapped his foot against the ground, "If you're done having your head in the clouds, allow me to tell you that this trap is useless at the moment. However, that will change as soon as I give it some ammunition. By removing one spell card from my hand, the spell card Cybernetic Data Excavation summons a level four or lower LIGHT monster from my graveyard. So, revive Proto-Cyber Dragon!"

A powerful surge of light erupted in front of Ryo, which allowed another cybernetic monster appear on the field, this one a small serpent that looked to be the beginnings of a machine with wires sticking out of its body (1100/600). "And, since this monster was just special summoned, I am allowed to play the spell card – Inferno Reckless Summon! This spell instantly summons all copies of the monster I just summoned, while at the same time you get to summon all copies of the only monster on your field."

"And I just happen to have two more copies of Cure Mermaid in this deck," Leorina replied as two cards popped out from her deck and she slapped the cards onto her duel disk. In two flashes of light, two more Cure Mermaids appeared next to the original one, the two of them winking towards Ryo (1500/800 x2).

"And now, my summons," Ryo stated as he held his hand to his deck and caught a few cards, but then lifted his hand up to his graveyard slot, taking a card from it as well. "As you are no doubt aware, my Proto-Cyber Dragon's effect makes it act as a Cyber Dragon while on the field, and thus, thanks to Inferno Reckless Summon…"

Several roars blasted through the air as three large, white armored cybernetic serpents flew over the field, each of them glistening in what little light there was on the terrace (2100/1600 x3). But what made Leorina step back in surprise was the fact that the three headed Cyber Hydra reappeared back on the field (2000/1500), all three of its heads roaring loudly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Leorina shouted as she lifted her hands up towards the Cyber Hydra. "I get the Cyber Dragons, but how is that back?"

"While in the graveyard or on the field," Ryo explained as he kept his attention towards his Cyber Photon Blaster, which was beginning to glow brightly. "My Cyber Hydra treats itself as a Cyber Dragon, meaning it's an applicable choice for the Reckless Summon. But enough about that! Cyber Dragons! Destroy the pitiful defenses she called! Triple Strident Blast!"

All three of the Cyber Dragons opened their mouths, and within them were bright blue lights that signified their attacks. Then, several blue flames erupted from the Cyber Dragons' mouths, all of them flying towards the three Cure Mermaids. However, Leorina lifted up her duel disk and pushed a button on her duel disk, and a powerful dimensional vortex appeared in between the three mermaids, which absorbed the flames. "Negate Attack, you're going to have to try harder than that to take me down!"

Ryo seemed unconcerned as he slipped a card into his duel disk, making it appear behind his five monsters. "One card set, and now, during my end phase, my Cyber Photon Blaster's effect now activates! For every Cyber Counter on the field, you're blasted with five hundred points of damage!"

The futuristic cannon hummed to life and immediately fired a powerful blast of blue energy that crashed into Leorina's torso. For a moment, Leorina's eyes widened at the surprising sensation that struck her – the burning sensation of pain! "URK!" (LLP: 7500)

'_I was wondering if that little ability would still be active after that event,'_ Nathaniel thought to himself as he watched Leorina breath slightly to deal with the slight pain. '_But yep! Looks like even the influence will still be active. Oh well, at least we learned a few other things about this thing…'_

"Miss Childsman, are you alright?"

"Just peachy," Leorina growled back as she stood up straight and exhaled an exasperated sigh from her mouth. '_Feels like I just got socked in the stomach…'_

"Can't even take a five hundred point burn?" Ryo stated with his arms crossed. "And you call yourself a pro duelist… You even have the gall to call yourself a duelist at all."

Leorina narrowed her eyes down on Ryo and she immediately plucked off the top card from her deck, "No one questions my ability as a duelist, I don't care if you're real or if you're a fake of Ryo Marufuji."

"If I'm a fake, then you should have no trouble defeating me then," Ryo replied as he held his hand up. "If you're a real duelist, then you should be able to quench that thirst for battle!"

"Quench? How about I drown you in it instead?" Leorina stated as she threw her hand up into the air, making all three of the Cure Mermaids blow kisses into the air, creating several heart shaped bubbles around their duelist. "Since it's my stand by phase, my Cure Mermaids grant me a gift, I gain eight hundred life points! Since you gave me the other two on my field, I'll just gain back what I just lost and then some!" (LLP: 9900)

"Oh my, its over nine thousand," Nathaniel chuckled to himself with a small grin on his face.

"You be quiet," Leorina growled as two of her Cure Mermaids glowed brightly. "As for what's happening next, I'm releasing two of my mermaids in order to summon Queen of the Seven Seas!"

The sound of a single drop of water echoed through the air, which garnered the attention of both Nathaniel and Ryo, both of them lifted their gaze to see that there were several orbs of water that had mysteriously appeared over Leorina's head. The orbs of water immediately slammed into each other and combined into a larger orb of water until there was one gigantic watery orb that pended dangerously a few inches over Leorina's head.

The young pro duelist lifted her hand over her head and snapped her fingers, which made the orb of water shatter into a torrent of water that crashed into the terrace's floor. However, that wasn't the only thing that landed on the terrace, for along with the water was a beautiful mermaid that landed in front of Leorina, this amazon of the sea with long seaweed colored hair that was topped with a shell-like crown and over her upper body was light coral-like armor that was adorned with shells and fins from various sea creatures and her hands was a long trident that had what appeared to be a 7-Colored Fish wrapped around the staff and up to the head of the trident (2600/2400).

Nathaniel whistled at the aquatic monster. But Ryo on the other hand…

"Is that all?" The Hell Kaiser scoffed at the sight of the creature. "That effort to summon one creature?"

"Not at all," Leorina stated as she lifted a card up from her hand and slipped it into her duel disk's graveyard slot. "You see, my Queen of the Seven Seas has domain over each denizen of the deep and can call them at will. By discarding one water monster from my hand, I can instantly summon another water monster from my graveyard. So, I'll ditch Draw Slime in order to special summon this monster!"

Leorina reached into her graveyard slot, pulled out a single card from it and slammed it onto her duel disk. A small geyser of water erupted from the terrace and from the water, a trio of mermaids popped from the geyser. All of them seemed to be in their teens and were dressed in starfish adorned clothing, but each of them had different hair color to them, one had short blue hair, the second had long black hair, and the third had strawberry blonde hair that brushed her shoulders. Each of the three mermaids clasped their hands together and began to sing a small cheery tune (1000/1800). "The Mermaid Sirens, which you so generously allowed me to discard. And speaking of discard, because I discarded Draw Slime, I gain another draw from my deck."

Leorina pulled the top card from her deck as a graceful blue aura slowly shifted from the Mermaid Sirens (1000/1800 + 400/0) and into both the Cure Mermaid (1500/800 + 400/0) and the Queen of the Seven Seas (2600/2400 + 400/). "And I should also mention that while my Mermaid Sirens are out on the field, all Water monsters gain four hundred attack points, but I'm not done, not by a long shot! It's at this time that I activate my trap card – Stage of the Sea!"

One of the face downs on Leorina's field flipped up, and revealed a trap that depicted the Mermaid Sirens singing on a decorated rock on the sea that had a lot of glowing lights and sea-like charms around them. It was then that the Mermaid Sirens began to sing even louder, empowering all of the mermaids on the dueling field (1400/1800 + 300/0) (3000/2400 + 300/0) (1900/800 + 300/0). "And as long as this traps out, all of my Water Monsters gain an additional three hundred attack points, and now…

"I GO ON THE ATTACK! Queen!"

The trident wielding mermaid spun her weapon around before she snapped the weapon towards one of the Cyber Dragons and unleashed a powerful blue light that flew from the air and slammed into one of the Cyber Dragons. For a moment, the attack seemed to do nothing until rust began to appear over the metallic dragon's body and it fell into millions of pieces. (RLP: 6800)

"Cure Mermaid! Blast the Hydra!"

The Cure Mermaid brought her hands up to her lips and blew another kiss towards the Cyber Hydra, with a flurry of heart shaped bubbles that crashed into the three headed machine, and shattered the monster. (RLP: 6600)

"And finally, Mermaid Sirens, take out the Proto-Cyber Dragon!" Leorina ordered as the three mermaids all leapt into the air and threw their hands forward. From the Sirens' hands erupted three shots of water that crashed into the Proto-Cyber Dragon's body, shattering it into millions of parts.

"Proto was in defense mode," Ryo replied with his arms crossed. "So my life points were unharmed by that last attack."

"Maybe so, but your cybernetic monstrosities were taken down a few soldiers," Leorina stated as she slipped a card into her duel disk. "And the difference in our life points certainly makes up for that. One card set, and my turn is over!"

Ryo slowly pulled the top card from his deck as immediately a golden light began to flutter down in front of him. Ryo snapped his arm forwards and turned the item around to reveal a spell card in his hand, "During my stand by phase, the card I removed from play last turn activates its effect – Treasure from a Different Dimension. Now it returns to my hand, and both of us draw two cards from our decks."

"I'm fine with that," Leorina muttered under her breath as she flicked off the top two cards from her deck while Ryo did the same. '_Now there's a move that I remember Ryo Marufuji used religiously to resupply his resources. Either this guy's got some deep pockets, or… No, it's not possible.'_

"Now then, I think it's time I started getting serious," Ryo stated as he looked at the six cards in his hand. "You've demonstrated enough skill for me to see the full extent of your abilities, so its only fair that I do the same."

'_Oh crap, here come the fusions,_' Leorina thought to herself as she lifted up her duel disk. '_But, if he busts out either Twin or End, my face down Bottomless Trap Hole will destroy it and remove it.'_

"So, I summon a second Cyber Proton Dragon!" Ryo announced as a second copy of the Cyber Dragon in the works appeared in front of him (1100/800), which made the Cyber Photon Blaster hum even louder. "So my blaster gains another Cyber Counter, and now I play the spell card Polymerization! And I'll fuse my three Cyber Dragons on the field…"

'_Here it comes,'_ Leorina thought to herself as she watched a large vortex appear over all three o the machines on Ryo's field.

The three cybernetic dragons flew into the vortex, which created a large amount of electrical energy that made the vortex cackle loudly. Leorina slowly placed her finger on the button of her duel disk, her eyes focused on the three headed cyber dragon that would emerge from the vortex. A loud mechanical roar blasted through the air as Leorina bit her lower lip in anticipation.

However, when a pair of cybernetic claws erupted from the vortex, Leorina's eyes widened, "What the, that's not Cyber End Dragon!"

The rest of the cybernetic creature dropped from the vortex, this one a titanic Cyber Dragon that had a larger torso with two short stubby mechanical legs. The cybernetic dragon also had what appeared to be a large missile with the bio-hazard symbol labeled on it and on the dragon's chest was a small screen that had the number '3' displayed on it (0/0). Ryo smirked slightly as he crossed his arms. "Of course, while the Cyber End Dragon is a powerful weapon, the Cyber Meltdown Dragon is a weapon of mass destruction at my disposal."

'_That thing has zero attack points and required three monsters to summon,'_ Leorina thought to herself as she eyed the large missile on the monster's back. '_And with that… Thing strapped to its back, that's just plain bad news.'_

"One card set," Ryo stated as the back row card appeared in between his Blaster and the other face down card on his field. "Turn end."

"What?" Leorina questioned when Ryo said that. "Really?"

"Of course, during my end phase," Ryo stated as he threw his hand towards his Cyber Photon Blaster, which was charging up again. "My Blaster fires off another shot, this time it gained two more Cyber Counters this turn, but my Cyber Meltdown Dragon has three Cyber Counters on it, so that means that you'll get blasted with a thousand points of damage now!"

The blaster immediately fired off a quick shot of blue energy that crashed into Leorina's stomach, and forced her back a few feet. "URK!" (LLP: 8900)

"Now my turn is over," Ryo stated with his arms crossed.

Leorina held her head, the pain she experienced from the Cyber Photon Blaster felt worse this time (as if someone was wearing cleats and kicked her in the stomach with them) and the headache she had ever since she stepped onto the terrace was on par with a jackhammer slamming into her mind every time her turn came around.

What was happening to her?

"Are you going to duel, or are you just done?" Ryo growled with his eyes narrowed down at Leorina.

"If summoning that waste of cardstock is your best," Leorina stated as she drew from the top of her deck. "Then I'd hate to see your worst!"

'_Still, considering everything he did to bring that out, he must have another reason for having it out… I've got a few monsters in my hand, but with those two face down cards, I'd rather not risk summoning or using Queen of the Seven Sea's effect until I know what he's capable of. But that doesn't mean I can't do some damage!'_

Once again, the Cure Mermaid turned towards her duelist and blew a kiss towards Leorina, allowing a pink heart-shaped bubble that popped over her. (LLP: 9700)

"Now that I've gotten refreshed, it's time to take you down!" Leorina announced as she threw her hand forward. "Cure Mermaid! Attack the Cyber Meltdown Dragon!"

The Cure Mermaid winked and immediately blew another kiss, only this time it was aimed towards the large monstrosity with the bubbles flying towards it. However, a large glowing barrier appeared in between the Cyber Meltdown Dragon and the attack, energy slipped from the barrier as Ryo threw his hand towards the side, "I activate my trap card at this moment, the powerful Mirror Force, now your attack is deflected back at you and your monsters shall pay the price!"

Leorina lifted her arm up as the barrier shattered, and immediately several lights flew through the air back towards her monsters and crashed at the ground in front of each of the monsters, creating several explosions that rocked the terrace. Smoke erupted from the ground and blanketed all of Leorina's field.

"Oh my, what a waste," Nathaniel sighed to himself as he shook his head. "And those monsters were rather splendid as well."

"I wouldn't count my monsters out just yet."

The smoke began to clear from Leorina's field, and it was revealed that the Queen of the Seven Seas was still on the field, her beautiful face narrowed down at Ryo (2900/2400). "You see, when my queen would be destroyed by a card effect, by releasing another water monster on the field, my queen survives!

"So, by sending my Mermaid Sirens to the graveyard, she lives to continue the fight against your mechanical monstrosity! Queen!"

The Queen of the Seven Seas leapt into the air, and spun around as she brought the trident down on the large variant of the Cyber Dragons. However, when the attack collided, only sparks began to fly off of the large imposing machine that flew onto Ryo's body, and the Cyber Meltdown Dragon remained standing. (RLP: 3700)

"What the?" Leorina questioned as her Queen of the Seven Seas landed back in front of her. "How did that thing survive?"

Ryo smirked slightly as he held his hand up towards his Cyber Meltdown Dragon, which had a few sparks fly from the screen that was on its chest – Which was now displaying the number '2' now on it. "It's Meltdown Dragon's effect, as long as it has at least one Cyber Counter on it, it cannot be destroyed. It's almost like your Queen, only more effective since it doesn't need to sacrifice another weakling to survive."

"Weakling? I'll show you who's weak," Leorina growled as she lifted a card up from her hand. "It's my second main phase now, and I can use my Queen's effect! By discarding Unshaven Angler from my hand, I can instantly summon back out a familiar trio of faces!"

Once again, a geyser of water erupted from the ground in front of Leorina, allowing the three Mermaid Sirens to appear back on the field, each of them signing cheerfully (1000/1800 + 400/0 + 300/0) (2900/2400 + 400/0). "Next, I'll set a monster face down, and end my turn!"

The young rising star of the pro leagues had recovered her field for the most part, and raised her duel disk in preparation for Ryo's next assault. With his fingers place atop of his deck, Ryo pulled off the top card from his deck and held it in front of his eyes. "The countdown has reached zero."

"What?" Leorina questioned as she held her duel disk up a little closer to her body.

"Meltdown Dragon," Ryo stated as he held out the card he just drew from his hand. "Has a unique ability, as I stated, it has three counters on it when fusion summoned and while they protect my dragon from destruction, they act more like safeguards to prevent destruction. Normally, you'd have to attempt to destroy it two more times for it to unleash its devastation onto the field.

"However, there is a way to access the destructive power of my monster. I play the spell card Counter Transfer. A rather mundane name, but it delivers what it promises. It allows me to move the counters on one card to another. So, the two remaining counters on the Cyber Meltdown Dragon are transferred to the Cyber Photon Blaster."

The screen on the Meltdown Dragon's chest surged with electricity with the number two replaced with the number zero. It was then that the Cyber Meltdown Dragon's body began to shudder and shake as steam blew from the cracks in the cyber monster's armored body. "And now, it is time for the end! With the limiters removed, Cyber Meltdown Dragon! Annihilate!"

It was then that the Cyber Meltdown Dragon's body glowed a bright blue and immediately erupted into a powerful explosion that spread across the terrace. Leorina's eyes widened at the sight of the blue explosion and watched as it surged over the field and engulfed every monster on her field. With her arms held up, Leorina braced herself from the powerful repercussion that was caused by the blast, but she was still forced off of her feet and landed on the ground. "GAGGH!" (LLP: 9700 – (2600 + 1000 + 1400) = 4700)

As the remains of the blast began to falter, Leorina pushed herself up to see Ryo simply standing there, waiting. (RLP: 3700)

"What… What just happened?" Leorina questioned, her gave shot directly towards the black clothed duelist in front of her.

"My dragon went nuclear," Ryo explained as he held up the fusion monster in between his fingers before he slipped it into his graveyard slot. "In game terms however, when there are no counters on it, my Meltdown Dragon sends every monster on the field to the graveyard. And the owners of the monsters take damage to the total original attack points of the monsters that were sent to the graveyard.

"Cyber Meltdown Dragon had no attack points, so I was unharmed by the blast, you on the other hand had three monsters, each of which had their own individual attack scores."

"I'm curious though," Nathaniel spoke up with one of his hands brought up to his chin. "What was that face down monster of yours?"

"… Red Archery Girl," Leorina muttered under her breath. '_And since they were sent to the graveyard and not destroyed, I couldn't use my queen's effect to keep her on the field. And then there's the damage, I was in control of the duel just last turn, but all of a sudden he pulled this move and he's only a thousand points lower than me.'_

"Now to continue this duel!" Ryo announced as he threw his arm forward, making his face down card flip up. "Call of the Haunted activates! Revive my Cyber Hydra!"

A powerful burst of light erupted from the ground, unleashing the three headed cyber monstrosity back onto the field (2000/1500).

"No you don't!" Leorina shouted as she waved her hand to the side, making one of the face down cards disappear while a large hole appeared underneath the Cyber Hydra's body, drawing it into the powerful vortex. "I play Bottomless Trap Hole! Now your monster is removed from play!"

Ryo merely narrowed his eyes at Leorina as he simply slipped a card into his duel disk. "One card set, turn end."

It was then that the Cyber Photon Blaster hummed loudly, and fired off another shot through the air and right into Leorina's stomach once more, and once again, the air was knocked right out of her once again. (LLP: 2700)

"Even if I do not attack, it is only a matter of time until you fall," Ryo stated as he closed his eyes. "Surrender now, unless you wish to experience more pain."

With her head lowered slightly, Leorina began to speak slowly, "I should surrender, any normal person would when facing against someone like you…"

She slowly placed two fingers atop of her deck.

"But…"

Leorina snapped her head up and pulled the top card from her deck, "I'm a duelist! There's no way in hell I'll give up that easy!"

"Then by all means," Ryo stated as he threw his arm to the side. "Prove that you're a duelist to me! Show me the strength that you've got!"

"I intend to!" Leorina snarled as she snapped the card she just drew in front of her eyes. "And this is just the card that I need to do it! I play, Monster Reborn! Now revive… Cyber Dragon!"

As Leorina slipped the card into her duel disk, a powerful light erupted in front of Leorina, forming into the serpentine metallic dragon (2100/1600), the machine roared loudly at its former master.

Ryo just narrowed his eyes at the sight of his signature monster on his opponent's field. "I see, you aim to defeat me with my own monster?"

"I'm gonna try," Leorina replied as she held her hand up, pointing her finger towards Ryo. "Cyber Dragon, do the honors! Burn his life points down!"

The mighty cybernetic dragon unleashed a flurry of blue flames that cascaded through the air towards Ryo, who just stood there, the blue fire slipping past him. The Hell Kaiser didn't even bat an eye as the flames licked away at his life points. (RLP: 1600)

When the flames began to die down, Ryo's face down card lifted up, and revealed a familiar trap card, "I now play Shock Draw, and thus, since I took over two thousand points of damage, at the end of this turn I'll be able to draw two cards."

"Yeah, but I'm not done," Leorina replied as she slipped a card into her duel disk, making the Cyber Dragon disappear into a bright blue mist that floated around her body. "I play Mystik Wok! Now, your monster's strength becomes mine!" (LLP: 4800)

And with the last two cards in her hand, Leorina placed the cards onto her duel disk. "And I'll set a monster and one card face down, turn end!"

Ryo immediately snapped off the top two cards from his deck, followed by a third draw for his regular draw, giving him five cards in his hand. "You're going to regret your choices girl, you had a shot to defeat me, but you failed to do so, and I shall make sure that you realize that! I activate the spell card, Power Bond!"

"Power Bond?" Leorina questioned as the infamous spell card appeared, sparks flying from the card's border. "But, unless you have other cyber monsters in your hand…"

"I don't need any monsters in my hand!" Ryo shot back as he lifted up another card from his hand. "Cause now I'm playing the spell card, Cybernetic Fusion Support! Now, by relinquishing half of my life points, I can remove the necessary components from my graveyard. So, all three of the Cyber Dragons, begon!"

As the three cards slid out of Ryo's graveyard slot, a powerful bolt of blue electricity crashed in front of Ryo, with three loud mechanical roars echoed throughout the air. From the burst of electrical energy, three large cybernetic dragon heads erupted from the energy, each of them resembling the Cyber Dragon's, only with some minor details, such as the number of mechanical eyes. Two large wing like protrusions erupted from the light as well, revealing that the three heads were connected to a large body with a long tail to it (4000/2800). "Cyber End Dragon, arise!"

"I was wondering if I'd see the big guy tonight," Leorina admitted with a nervous laugh as she eyed the large mechanical monstrosity. "Mecha-King Ghidorah was always a personal favorite of mine in the movies, and I always wondered how he'd look in real life… Or in this case, holographically."

"Consider your curiosity quelled," Ryo stated as several light blue sparks erupted from the joints of the Cyber End Dragon (4000/2800 + 4000/0). "And don't forget, thanks to Power Bond, Cyber End Dragon's attack doubles! So now, Cyber End Dragon! Finish this!"

The large, three headed Cyber Dragon roared loudly before it aimed all three of its heads towards the face down monster on Leorina's field, and without a moment of hesitation, all three of the heads fired powerful bursts of blue energy that flew towards the only defense on Leorina's field. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the blasts connected with the face down card, which revealed a blue haired mermaid armed with a crossbow while she was atop of a turtle-like creature (1200/200), the mermaid gasped before the blast crashed into her.

"And just like that, this duel is done," Ryo stated as the energy flew around the terrace.

However, Ryo raised an eyebrow as he watched the energy circle around the terrace and in front of Leorina who held her hands up, "How right you are, cause I've got my trap card – Dimension Wall! You may have destroyed my Mermaid Archer, but since that battle was going to give me damage, my trap card inflicts the damage to you instead!

"SAY BYE!"

With her hands around the energy, Leorina threw the powerful blast towards Ryo who's eyes widened as the warping energy flew towards him and crashed into his body. When the moment of contact arrived, Ryo's eyes widened as he was thrown off his feet and flew into the wall that was behind him, the energy smashed him into the wall to create a web of cracks that raced across the wall until the energy subsided. After a few moments, Ryo fell from the wall and crashed into the ground, sparks racing over his body. "GARGH!" (RLP: 0)

Leorina sighed loudly as she fell to the ground, her hands landing on the concrete, "I… I did it… Wow…"

The sound of a single pair of hands clapping echoed through the air, which drew Leorina's attention towards Nathaniel as he walked over to Ryo's sparking form. "Bravo, bravo Miss Childsman, I knew that you had talent hidden up your sleeve, I just didn't know it was on par with one of the world's most dangerous duelists. Still, I have to wonder something."

Nathaniel slowly knelt down and plucked the three remaining cards from Ryo's hand and fanned them in front of himself. His eyebrows raised slightly as he ran a finger on the cards, "Hmm, interesting, would you care to see Miss Childsman? It is quite fascinating to see what this man was capable of."

Leorina was back on her feet and took a few steps to see the cards that Nathaniel was holding were all spell cards. One was Treasure from a Different Dimension, the second one was My Body as a Shield, and the third was a card she never saw before…

"Shield Cracker?" Leorina muttered as she leaned forward to get a better look at the card.

"Shield Cracker," Nathaniel stated as he spun the cards around in between his fingers. "A quick play spell card that can be activated when a card effect that would negate an attack is activated. This card negates the effect and can destroy the card, then the battle would continue normally. A good card against Scrap-Iron Scarecrow or Magic Cylinder.

"Your skill in having that Dimension Wall was impressive…"

"Alright, spill it!" Leorina spat as she grabbed Nathaniel by the collar of his shirt. "Just who the hell is that guy? There's no way I just dueled against Ryo Marufuji!"

"Well, you are correct," Nathaniel stated as he slapped Leorina's hand away to adjust his collar. "But in a sense you're wrong. This duelist was designed to duel as Ryo Marufuji, and was programed with his personality, strategies and even his ferocity. It was well done too, and I'm not the best when it comes to computers either."

"Programmed?" Leorina questioned as Nathaniel popped the cards into his pocket and knelt down to Ryo again.

Silently, Ryo placed his hands onto Ryo's face and lifted the Hell Kaiser's head up, and then, Nathaniel began to pull the duelist's face with a great deal of force. Leorina's eyes widened as she stepped forward, "Hey! What the hell are you doing? If you do that…"

Before Leorina could finish, Nathaniel stood up and lifted up a flesh colored substance in his gloved hands, Leorina gasped when Nathaniel turned around and lowered the item in his hand…

It was the hollowed out face of Ryo, his skin torn where it was pulled from.

Leorina's eyes widened as she stepped backwards.

"Now, now, now, Miss Childsman," Nathaniel chuckled as he dropped the face and stepped to the side. "Still your fears, it's not like I have a fascination with butterflies, made your opponent put the lotion on his skin and put it in the basket otherwise he'd get the hose again, and my name is not Hannibal…"

Nathaniel took a second to catch his breath before he held his arm out towards the fallen Ryo, "… But rather, look at your opponent."

Leorina was rather reluctant to look, but when she did, her heart began to beat regularly – Mainly because there was no blood, no bone, and no gore… But she was still surprised when she realized something.

"M-Metal?" Leorina questioned.

For a third time, Nathaniel knelt down next to Ryo to reveal that where his face was once, there was now a second face, this one completely metallic with a wig and bits of false skin still attached to it. "What in the world is that… Thing?"

"This Miss Childsman," Nathaniel chuckled as he stood up once again. "Is a remnant of the Diablo, or individually known as a Ghost – An artificial duelist from the times of the WRGP, and from the incidents that occurred during its events. They were known for their mimicry of duelists, and thus, when I managed to acquire one of these dueling robots, I elected to test it out.

"As for why I chose Ryo Marufuji… Cyber Dragons don't normally get much love any more in the pro-leagues on their own, so I elected to try that out. And while he did show a good about of promise, it would appear that artificial cannot defeat natural. At least in this instance."

"D-Diablo? Ghost?" Leorina questioned under her breath. '_Just who in the world is this guy?'_

"But enough on that, we had a deal," Nathaniel stated as he walked towards Leorina. "You wished to learn the truth about your brother's incarceration… And I can easily answer that, for you have already taken the second step to learning the truth."

"Just what the hell are you…" Leorina started…

BA-DUM!

"Urk!" Leorina groaned as she grabbed her forehead, her eyes widening as she fell to her knees. "M-My head… It's… It's on fire!"

Nathaniel smirked as he watched Leorina growl and twist in pain loudly. '_Hmm, showing the classic signs already, although, there has to be something done about the pain issue. Oh well…'_

It was then that Leorina fell forward and passed out at Nathaniel's feet, Nathaniel cleared his throat and crossed his arms behind his back. "You can come out now, I believe she's unable to see at the moment."

From the shadows, a large form walked forward, but the shadows kept the person's details hidden, "Nah, man, I'd rather not take any chances. So, what ya think?"

"Considering her brother," Nathaniel stated with a warm smile. "And her skills, I definitely see that she can be used for our plans. Do me a favor good sir…"

Nathaniel held out his hand and produced a single business card, "On here is a date and location, I wish for her to be there on the written time, and not a moment sooner. I don't care how you get to appear, but it's vital that she does show up."

"Not a prob," the shadowed man replied as he took the card. "Shouldn't be too much of an issue, so, what are you going to do about that tin can you've got?"

Nathaniel looked over his shoulder towards the duel bot and sighed, "It still has uses, just need to tweak it a little bit."

"Damn, I was hoping to modify it to look like Mai Kujaku, that'd be awesome," the shadowed man chuckled with a lick of his lips.

"… How vulgar," Nathaniel sighed loudly.

Unbeknownst to the two conversing men, a red-eyed creature watched them from the top of the doors to the terrace, its bat-like wings wrapped around its small body as it watched the whole scene play out in front of it…

**TTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Cybernetic Fusion Support / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** Activate only when you would Fusion Summon a Machine-Type Fusion monster. Pay half your life points. When you Fusion Summon that monster, you can remove from play, from your side of the field or Graveyard, Fusion Material Monster that are listed on that Fusion Monster, and use them as Fusion Material Monsters.**  
>Image:<strong> A futuristic lab with a large amount of blue energy surging through it.

**Treasure from a Different Dimension / Normal Spell / Effect:** If this card is removed from play, return it to your hand during your next Standby Phase. If this card is returned to the hand this way, both players draw 2 cards.

**Image:** A card appearing in a weird machine with bolts of yellow energy surrounding it.

_The previous two cards were used by Ryo Marufuji/Zane Truesdale in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX._

**Cyber Hydra / Light / LV. 5 / ATK: 2000 / DEF: 1500 / Machine/Effect:** While this card is on the field or in the graveyard, treat this card's name as 'Cyber Dragon'. If you have no Monsters on your side of the field and have at least one LIGHT Machine-Type monster in your graveyard, you may normal summon this card from your hand without tribute.

**Description:** a large, three-headed, futuristic cybernetic dragon erupt behind him connected to a large body that had a single large tail and a pair of short stubby legs on

**Cyber Photon Blaster / Continuous Trap / Effect:** Whenever a LIGHT Machine-Type monster is summoned, place one 'Cyber Counter' on this card for each monster that was summoned. During each of your End Phases, inflict 100 points of damage to your opponent's life points for each 'Cyber Counter' on the field.

**Image**: A large three cannoned, cybernetic rover that's designed to resemble the Cyber End Dragon.

**Cybernetic Data Excavation / Normal Spell / Effect:** Remove one Spell card from your hand to activate this card. Select and special summon one Level 4 or lower LIGHT Machine-Type monster from your graveyard in defense mode. A monster special summoned with this effect cannot be used in a Synchro Summon.

**Image**: Kozaky working on a computer that has the Cyber Dragon on its screen

**Cyber Meltdown Dragon / Light / LV. 12 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Machine/Fusion/Effect:** [Cyber Dragon + 2 Machine-Type monsters] This card can only be special summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card is Fusion Summoned, place three 'Cyber Counters' on this card. If this card would be destroyed (either through battle or by card effect) while in face up attack position remove one 'Cyber Counter' from this card instead (all battle damage is done normally). During your main phase, if this card has no 'Cyber Counters' on it, send all cards on the field to the graveyard. Then both duelists take damage equal to the total original ATK of their monsters sent to the graveyard with this effect.

**Description:** a titanic Cyber Dragon that had a larger torso with two short stubby mechanical legs. The cybernetic dragon had a large missile with the bio-hazard symbol labeled on it and on the dragon's chest was a small screen that had the number '3' displayed on it

**Counter Transfer / Normal Spell / Effect:** Select one card on the field that has counters on it, and place those counters on an appropriate face up card on the field. After this effect is used, place this card at the bottom of your deck.

**Image:** A Sand Gambler holding up a bunch of counters in his hand as he exchanges them for cash.

**Queen of the Seven Seas / Water / LV. 8 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2400 / Fish/Effect:** This card cannot be special summoned. Once per turn during your Main Phase, by discarding one WATER monster from your hand, you may Special Summon one WATER monster from your graveyard. When this card would be destroyed by a card effect, you may destroy one other face up WATER monster on your field to prevent this card's destruction.

**Description:** a beautiful mermaid that landed in front of Leorina, this amazon of the sea with long seaweed colored hair that was topped with a shell-like crown and over her upper body was light coral-like armor that was adorned with shells and fins from various sea creatures and her hands was a long trident that had what appeared to be a 7-Colored Fish wrapped around the staff and up to the head of the trident

**Stage of the Sea / Continuous Trap / Effect:** As long as there is a 'Mermaid' monster face up on the field, this card cannot be destroyed by card effects. Increase the ATK and DEF of all face up WATER monsters by 300 points. When this card is removed from the field, remove it from play.

**Image:** The Mermaid Sirens singing on a water bound, neon-glowing stage

**Mermaid Sirens / Water / LV. 3 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 1800 / Fish/Effect:** While you possess another face up WATER monster, this card cannot be attacked or targeted by monster effects. While this card is face up on the field, increase the ATK and DEF of all face up WATER monsters on your side of the field by 400 points.

**Description:** A trio of young mermaids each of them dressed in starfish adorned clothing, but each of them had different hair color to them; one had short blue hair, the second had long black hair, and the third had strawberry blonde hair that brushed her shoulders

**TTTTTTTT**

_**Childsman…**_

_**A name that rings a number of tolls in the minds of a few Shadowchasers…**_

_**What are the plans for this Childsman?**_

_**As more light is bled onto this mystery, it can be quite an arduous task and can bring its toll on those trying to solve these webs of deceit…**_

_**But even in a moment of relaxation and meeting old faces, the job is never done.**_

_**Next time on Dark City Chronicles:**_

_**Draw 7**_

_**Symbols of Duty**_


	8. Draw 7: Symbols of Duty

_**When I left New York City many years ago, I left a number of friends behind – In all honesty, I never thought I'd see them again, but fate has a funny way of dealing with impossibilities. Making the impossible possible is one of the many marvels that mankind has done before, and it will never cease to amaze me.**_

_**But then again, fate can play some cruel tricks.**_

_**Even on a day of rest, there is trouble for those in the Shadowchasers' line of business – Whether there's a petty theft by a were-rat, a murder perpetrated by a goblin, or even the occasional evil maniacal madman who's hell-bent on ruling/destroying the world due to a complex or sad past.**_

_**No rest for the weary seems to be the best saying for this situation.**_

_**Still, I wish I could enjoy a simple glass of bourbon for five minutes.**_

_**TTTTTTT**_

_**Draw 7**_

_**Symbols of Duty**_

_**TTTTTTT **_

_Time: 8:34 a.m._

It was the morning after Leorina's duel against the Hell Kaiser, and all seemed calm in the Brooklyn Branch of the Shadowchasers' base. The only sound that seemed to echo throughout the building was the simple sound of the coffee machine brewing the caffeinated beverage. The warm dark smell lofted through the kitchen of the boarding house, slowly seeping through the rest of the building.

'_Dark as the devil, hot as hell, and as sweet as a kiss,'_ Hyde thought as he lifted up the finished pot of coffee and poured himself a cup. '_I may not have been a fanatic of coffee, but even I know the good stuff when I smell it, and this is the perfect way to start the day.'_

Hyde was about to take a sip from the coffee, but stopped to take a whiff of the brew.

"Is… Is that d-decaf?"

Turning his attention to the side, Hyde realized that he wasn't the only one in the kitchen, and that standing a few feet from him was the fourth Shadowchaser of the New York City Shadowchasers – Kuroi Hitsuji with a coffee cup in his hands. "Regular, sorry."

"Oh," Kuroi muttered under his breath as he lowered his head. A few seconds later, Kuroi rubbed the back of his head and lifted it up. "I… I guess w-w-when you're done, I-I'll make a batch…"

"Sorry about that," Hyde replied with a raised eyebrow. "… I'm guessing you're the last of the Shadowchasers here – Kuroi Hitsuji, right?"

"Uh, y-yes sir!" Kuroi yelped as he stood up straight and immediately bowed forward. "I-Irving informed me that w-we had a passing through Shadowchaser h-here…"

'_Passing-throught?'_ Hyde thought to himself as he took a sip of his coffee. '_Certainly an interesting way to describe me, not totally on the mark, but still viable.'_

Placing his coffee mug on the counter, Hyde held his hand out to Kuroi, "Even so, the name's Hyde Vayne."

"It… It's a pleasure, s-sir!" Kuroi yelped before he gingerly took Hyde's hand and shook it. "K-Kuroi H-Hitsuji at y-your service."

"There's no need to be nervous, kid," Hyde stated as he released Kuroi's hand from his grip.

Kuroi turned away slightly as he grabbed his mug, "I… I k-know, but I j-just can't help it… It's a n-n-nervous tick of mine, I've had it all m-my life…"

"We've all got our vices and ticks I suppose," Hyde admitted as he swirled the coffee in his mug a few times. "I've got my cigarettes, and one of my older friends practically had a relationship with coffee, she drank about like thirteen cups a day. It's things like this that make us all mortal."

"R-Right," Kuroi muttered as he tapped his fingers against his mug a few times. "S-So, Irving says you're doing r-research in a f-few cases, d-do you n-need any help?"

Hyde took a long sip of his coffee before he placed the emptied mug on the counter. It was then that Hyde began to walk past Kuroi and head for the doors, "I appreciate it, but I have some other matters to deal with, I'll keep your offer in mind though. Later kid."

Kuroi blinked a few times as he watched the older Shadowchaser walk out of the kitchen and disappear from sight. With a sigh, Kuroi looked to the coffee pot and began to pour himself a cup.

"I thought you were on decaf?"

Kuroi jumped slightly and threw the coffee pot up into the air out of surprise. The shy Shadowchaser threw his arms out in an attempt to catch the coffee pot, however, as the pot was falling, it just stopped in mid-air. "Huh?"

"You know that regular's no good for you," A familiar voice chuckled behind Kuroi, which prompted Kuroi to turn around to see Irving standing behind him with the coffee pot in his gloved hands. "Anyway, how are your wounds today Kuroi?"

"Ah, I-Irving," Kuroi replied with his head lowered. "I-I am feeling m-much better, t-thank you f-for asking…"

"Excellent!" Irving replied as he placed the coffee pot back in the brewer. "Now then, are you ready?"

"H-Huh?" Kuroi questioned. "Ready for what?"

"Patrolling of course!" Irving answered with his arms crossed. "Taiga's got the afternoon patrol, and after the ordeal that Hardin went through yesterday, I decided to let her have the day off and get to know that girl – Thirteen. She's also going through that journal she found at the scene as well the other documents that were recovered.

"So, that means it's up to you and me to deal with patrol this morning – And I've got a meeting with one of my sources to get some information on the BackDraft Corps, and I was wondering if you'd like to meet him as well. After all, you're going to have to develop some contacts in this city in order to gain information."

"S-Sure I guess," Kuroi replied. "J-Just let me g-get something t-to drink and…"

Kuroi didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, when Irving gripped the smaller Shadowchaser's arm and pulled the token duelist from the room. "No time! We'll stop at Starbucks along the way!"

**TTTTTTTT**

_Time: 10:21 a.m._

_Location: Midtown Manhattan, Hudson Hotel, Room 315_

The sunlight glared through the windows and struck the resident of the room right in the face as they laid in bed, trying to nurse away the pains of the night before, "Ugh, five more minutes, Mr. Sun…"

She shifted in her bed, trying to get the sun out of her eyes just so she could scrape up a few more minutes of sleep – It was a desperate struggle, one she could not win… Even if she had the covers pulled over her head. While it was a temporary win for her, the covers could not effectively block sound.

When the phone began to ring, she twisted and turned in poor attempts to block the annoying rings that blasted from the small device on her stand. "Urk, gggh, SHADDUP!"

With one swift moment, she threw the covers up into the air and grabbed the phone, immediately silencing the annoyance. As she lifted the phone to her ears, the covers fell back atop of her body, "Yeah?"

"Mornin' Angel Fish! Sleep well?"

"… Jersey, I'm hanging up."

"W-Wait Leorina! Don't! I gotta…"

CLICK!

Leorina moaned loudly as she pushed herself up from the bed, she was too awake now to go back to sleep, and more than likely, J Devil would be calling her room again sometime soon. So, getting herself from the bed, Leorina slowly made her way towards the bathroom for a nice warm shower – She felt like she had a hangover (even though she was sure that she only had a few drinks). '_Let me think… What did I do last night to feel like I got beaten up? I had my congratulations party, had a few drinks, dealt with Jersey…'_

While her thoughts were trying to piece together the previous night, Leorina stopped by the mirror in her bathroom, and caught sight of herself. "AAAAAH!"

With her hands to her head, Leorina slowly began to smooth down her hair, "Damn bedhead… My hair never gets this messy, then again, I usually have it done up. I should think about getting it cut shorter… Then again, this hairstyle is quite popular with my fans. Hmm, maybe I should get a stylist's opinion… Wait…"

When Leorina was fixing up her hair, she noticed a bruise on her side near her waist (she was able to since she was wearing a silk nightie on her thin frame). That wasn't the only bruise that she saw – there were a number of other noticeable bruises on her body, and when she touched them, Leorina winced. "Ow, where did…"

"_My Cyber Photon Blaster's effect now activates! For every Cyber Counter on the field, you're blasted with five hundred points of damage!"_

_The futuristic cannon hummed to life and immediately fired a powerful blast of blue energy that crashed into Leorina's torso. For a moment, Leorina's eyes widened at the surprising sensation that struck her – the burning sensation of pain! "URK!"_

Leorina's eyes widened as the memories of last night began to flood her mind. '_T-That's right! I dueled last night! I had this migraine and bruises from that weird ass duel, but… Why can't I remember anything else? I know it was against someone famous but… And who set up the duel again? The night was really hazy…'_

With a shake of her head, Leorina sighed loudly, "This is too much for me to take in right now… Besides, I need a shower, that'll help me clear my head."

Leorina failed to notice the business card that was on the bathroom counter near the mirror – The one that had the name Nathaniel Z. Carine written on it…

**TTTTTTTT**

_Time: 11:47 a.m._

_Location: Manhattan, Last Chance Bar_

Manhattan, or even just New York City, was known to have quite a number of bars lined up in the streets, and there was always a bar that catered to a person's preferences. Bars for alternative lifestyles, theme bars, and bars that promoted social statuses, it was a practical dealer's choice.

The Last Chance Bar wasn't one of those kinds of bars.

Indeed, while it was a bar that appeared within the last decade or so, one could swear that by looking at it from the inside it was a relic from the 1940's based on the style it was designed to have. Based off an old billiards bar, three pool tables lined the center of the surprisingly large bar while small tables and booths lined the walls around them. Near the front of the bar was a small stage adorned with classic instruments that were commonly used in playing jazz music.

The bar counter in the back of the room had a number of bottles and containers for various alcoholic beverages stacked on the wall behind it, and at the moment, the only person in the bar was wiping down the countertop. The man in question was the bar tender, dressed in a black vest, white shirt and matching black pants that hugged his thin physique. His face was rugged with a beginnings of a stubble and was topped up with blonde hair that had black bangs to it, and over his sharp eyes were a pair of red tinted sunglasses that had a crack in the right lens.

'_Clean, clean, clean…'_ The man thought to himself as he clenched the rag in his hand tightly. _ 'That's all I can really do right now, no one except workless bums would come into a dive like this at this time…'_

The moment he thought that, the door to the bar opened up, allowing the sun light to pour in around the single man who stood in the doorway. The bartender sighed to himself as he tossed the rag to the side and crossed his arms, '_Not even noon yet and I've already got my first potential drunk for the day…'_

"Hmm, it's amazing how this place hasn't changed for years," the silhouetted man sighed to himself as he walked into the bar, the door slowly closing behind him. "Even the stains are still in the same places."

The bartender raised an eyebrow as the silhouetted man came closer and closer to the bar, the lights that dangled above slowly illuminating the shadows away. "Well now, this is a surprise, I wasn't expecting an old mutt like you to show your mug around here again…

"Name your poison, Detective Vayne…"

"I'm no longer a detective Talbain," Hyde chuckled as he took a seat at the bar. "Haven't been on the force for years… I'll have my usual."

"Excuse me for not knowing," the bartender, Talbain, answered back as he lifted up a shot glass and a bottle of bourbon. "Not like we've really talked to each other just yesterday, but for showing your mug around here, first one's on me."

"Thanks," Hyde replied as he watched Talbain pour the alcoholic beverage into the glass.

"So, what brings you back here anyway?" Talbain replied as he slid the glass in front of Hyde. "Last I heard, you were spending your days in Las Vegas… Slot machines take all your money or something?"

Hyde swirled the bourbon in his hands before he lifted the glass up, "Nah, I didn't lose anything, instead, I found something. Something I never expected."

"Marriage?" Talbain guessed with his head tilted as he pulled up another glass, intent on getting himself some water.

"What? No," Hyde replied as he took a sip from the glass. "… He's alive, Talbain…"

Talbain's eyes widened as he nearly dropped the glass he was holding, "You're joking, right mutt? I thought that you…"

"Apparently not," Hyde answered before he took another sip, allowing the burning sensation to slowly flow through his veins. "I saw him, I spoke to him, and he tried to do me in as to repay me for what I did to him."

Talbain placed the glass on the counter and turned to the side, his hands to his chin, "… I suppose that's why you're here then… You and him usually came here to pick up a few leads on your cases back when you working the street."

"Yeah, but judging by your reaction," Hyde stated. "You haven't heard anything about him."

"Once again, your deduction's right on the mark," Talbain sighed as he held up a water bottle and immediately poured the contents into the glass. "Sorry mutt, but until I heard you say it, I haven't heard anything about that snake. I'll be sure to keep an ear open about the snake – Hard to believe that he's still alive."

"You wouldn't believe half of the stuff I've seen in the last few years, Talbain," Hyde retorted.

"… Heh, why not try me, mutt?" Talbain growled. "Times change, people change… You used to believe that line as well. Besides, I think I can fathom a guess what you've seen, you're not the only one who's seen weird things going on."

"Is that a fact now?" Hyde replied, looking up from his drink. "Well then, Talbain, how about you tell me what you think I've seen."

Before Talbain could answer, the door to the bar opened up louder this time…

"So, Delano, you sure this place is good?"

"Trust me dood! This place serves the best cocktails!"

Both Hyde and Talbain looked towards the door to see two other customers entering the bar – One of them a rather slim young man dressed in rather fancy street clothes – black jeans, white shirt and a hot pink short sleeved jacket which actually matched the bright pink colored hair of his.

Unlike the pink haired person, who was sashaying towards one of the booths, the second man was a large burly goon, with wild purple hair (obviously dyed) that covered the right half of his face, while being dressed in a leather jacket and tattered jeans over his muscular physique. But what caused Hyde and Talbain to stare was that this goon was no mere man like his pink haired companion…

His face was filled with beastly features – Small sharp fangs, a black stout nose and black fur covering his face and every other part of him that exposed through his clothes. His hands were larger and ended in long claws that were likely the cause for the rips in his clothing However, the most daunting point was the fact that the beastly man had his two red beady eyes glaring around the bar. He had two eyes on the left side of his face, vertically centered, and more than likely had another pair underneath his hair.

"Bugbear, eh?"

Hyde blinked a few times as he turned around to see Talbain sipping on his glass of water, "… What did you say?"

"I told you, mutt," Talbain replied as he lifted up his glass. "I'm sure I've seen things like you have, especially considering that mark on your face. Not the first time I've seen a badge.

"Now if you excuse me, the waitresses don't get here until one, and I've got a couple orders to take."

Hyde blinked a few times as he watched Talbain walk behind the bar counter and head towards the booth with the pink haired man and the bugbear seated at it. '_Talbain, are you an Aware? Or are you just able to sense the presence?'_

That thought train was interrupted as the door opened up once again, this time accompanied with a familiar voice, "Hey Talbain! Got a couple of seats opened up for a lowly pair?"

"You know I've got a couple of seats, sit down at the bar, overcoat."

'… _Overcoat, great…'_ Hyde thought as he gulped down the rest of his bourbon before he spun around on his seat and lifted up his empty glass. "Hello there Irving, didn't expect to see you here."

Indeed, the overcoat dressed Shadowchaser was stood only a few feet from Hyde, however, it wasn't alone – Right next to Irving was Kuroi, who in comparison with the older Shadowchaser, might've well have been a shadow. The last chance bar was the last place that Hyde expected to see the two other Shadowchasers, and by the surprised look on Kuroi's face and Irving's body movement, Hyde knew that they felt the same.

"Hmm, how curious," Irving mused as he walked up to the bar, Kuroi only a few feet behind him. "I didn't know you knew this place, Mr. Vayne, you a billiards fan?"

"I play occasionally," Hyde answered as he leaned back on the bar, arms crossed over his chest. "But I came here to find some information from an old friend of mine – It wasn't the information that I was expecting though, I didn't expect Talbain to be an Aware…"

Irving and Kuroi took a seat next to Hyde at the bar, Irving chuckled loudly as he held his hand up to his hidden chin, "Then you might be more shocked to learn that he was also a candidate for being a Shadowchaser."

"… What?" Hyde questioned.

**TTT- A Few Minutes Later –TTT**

After he filled the orders and delivered them to the booth, Talbain was back behind the bar, and had poured a ginger ale for Irving (he was still technically on patrol and didn't need alcohol in his system) and an orange juice for Kuroi (while he was allowed in the bar, Kuroi wasn't old enough to acquire an alcoholic drink). Talbain smirked at Hyde and crossed his arms, "Told ya I had an idea that I saw what you saw, Hyde."

"So, you tried to become a Shadowchaser," Hyde muttered under his breath. "Didn't see that one coming when I woke up this morning."

"Yeah, but I failed," Talbain growled before he lifted up a few glasses to polish with a clean rag. "I just couldn't get past that final challenge to get into that little club of yours…"

"You failed it seven times in a row," Irving replied, which earned him a glare from Talbain from behind his red shades. "Hey, I always said the eighth time's a charm. If you had tried it once more, than you probably would've been able to…"

"You talk too much, overcoat," Talbain snarled.

"Y-You were t-t-trained by I-Irving too?" Kuroi questioned as he lifted up the straw in his drink.

"No, I had another teacher," Talbain explained, as he held the glass up to the light to see if he missed a smudge. "It wasn't until the last two times I tried did I have the big guy here coaching me… Still was a freakin' nightmare. I swear, you should've been arrested for torture you damn overcoat."

"Hey, you have potential, Talbain," Irving retorted with his arms raised up defensively. "You had a few tricks up your sleeve that would've made you an A-Class Shadowchaser, but enough about that, how do you know Talbain, Hyde?"

"It's nothing special," Hyde answered back. "Back when I was on the beat here, me and my partner came here after work to unwind and kick back a few drinks, Talbain was a bartender back then as well. A few nights he'd let us stay after closing to enjoy a few games of pool with some wagers on the side.

"Talbain also happened to be a good source of information, loose lips sink ships, and when they're greased with alcohol, they tell tales that they wouldn't normally tell others."

"People always tell the bartender their troubles," Tablain added as he lined the glasses on the counter. "Sometimes I wish I could be left alone to read the latest Grisham novel."

"Speaking of, I was wondering if you heard anything interesting lately," Irving stated with his finger wagging. "Preferably about the BackDraft Corps, but anything will do at the moment…"

"I do have a few things about them," Talbain stated as he held up the water bottle he had before. "One of which is I know that you probably already know of, the split between the two head honchoes of the group."

"Yeah," Irving replied with a nod of his fedora covered head. "That stuff we've already heard, the two brothers are in an argument of sorts and decided to split up the gang for a while."

"True, but what I've got isn't a waste of time," Talbain replied with a wag of his finger. "The two brothers may be arguing with each other, but both of them are still running the gang well on their own terms. The smaller, yet older brother Raiden, has been keeping up on his business expenditures – Ya know, protection funding from businesses, blackmailing some businessmen, and those sorts of activities.

"While the bigger, yet younger brother Grogg, seems to be intent on his collections – Stealing customized D-Wheels, getting valuables from a number of people, and essentially he's become a hoarder for other people's belongings. I swear, between the two of them, they're really all over the place, there's also rumors about how Grogg's trying to get revenge on some guy who socked him a few nights back, so he's got a shit-load of goons going after this one guy…"

Hearing that, Hyde turned his attention towards the side, especially when he realized that both Irving and Kuroi now stared at the back of his head. It didn't take Talbain long to come to realization, "… Oh for the love of… Mutt! You weren't the guy who socked him, were you?"

"The brute stole my wheels," Hyde answered bluntly with a shrug of his shoulders. "After all the time and effort I put in that D-Wheel, I wasn't going to let some two-bit thief take it from me."

Unbeknownst to the four at the bar, the duo that sat at the booth had turned their attention to the four's conversation, both of them looking a little concerned as the conversation continued.

Irving laughed loudly, "Ha, ha! Most excellent! Only a couple of days here, and you're already gonna help with us with the BackDraft Corps, you'll be our living bait!"

"Um, q-q-question," Kuroi stated with his hand raised up in the air.

"This isn't school," Talbain growled under his breath, his attention drawn to the smaller Shadowchaser. "But what's your question?"

"D-Do you happen t-to know why the two are fighting?" Kuroi questioned.

"Hell if I'd know," Talbain retorted with a scoff to the side. "The only ones who'd know that are the brothers themselves, maybe they got tired of sharing the gang, maybe they just got tired seeing each other's faces, pick any reason you'd like…"

"Besides, it's not like knowing the reason for why they're acting like this would help in our investigation," Irving added.

Hyde lifted his hand to his chin and rubbed it a few times, "… Actually, I have to disagree with you Irving."

"Hmm?" The overcoat wearing Shadowchaser mused.

"In cases like this," Hyde replied. "It's important to factor in anything relevant to the suspects – If anything, we could use the reasoning for why they broke the gang in two to determine what their next courses of action would be. There's also the fact that we could use this reason for how they split the gang to our advantage, using it to drive a deeper wedge in between the two brothers."

"Hmm, interesting idea," Irving muttered under his breath as he stood up. "We'll discuss this later back at the base, in the meantime, Kuroi and I have to get back to our patrol today. Talbain, I'll come by later to get the rest of that information, and would you care to join us, Mr. Vayne?"

"I've still got my own investigation to conduct," Hyde answered as he waved his hand up over his head a few times. "Go on ahead without me."

"Your choice," Irving replied as he pulled Kuroi from the barstool by the arm. "Come Kuroi, back to the streets!"

"B-But my orange juice!" Kuroi yelped as he was dragged past the pool tables.

Talbain blinked a few times as he watched Irving and Kuroi head out the door, and when he turned towards Hyde, he spoke bluntly, "You realize that they just stiffed you with the bill right?"

"It's only ginger ale and orange juice," Hyde retorted with a roll of his eyes. "Not exactly something to break the bank over. I'll pick it up, so don't worry about that."

"Your choice," Talbain replied with a shrug. "I would've run it up on their tab, that one cat girl comes every now and then…"

"I think there's a more pressing issue," Hyde stated. "Mainly with the fact that I didn't know that you were a candidate for the Shadowchasers…"

"And I didn't know you used to be in them," Talbain countered with his eyes narrowed behind his shades. "If I had, then maybe I would've taken Irving up on his offer to be trained an eighth time, might've been interesting to work alongside with ya in Vegas, mutt."

"Might've," Hyde answered back as he lifted up his hand. "In any case, there was another thing I had to talk to you about, it's with the last member of our motley crew back in the day. I haven't had time to reach her yet, and I was wondering if…"

Hyde didn't get a chance to finish, for at that moment, he jumped to the right just in time to get out of the way of a large pair of claws that flew from above and crashed into the bar and barstool where Hyde was only moments ago. Talbain jumped to the side as well, surprised to see that the purple haired bugbear from earlier had just attacked another customer. "WHAT THE HELL!"

With his feet back on the ground, Hyde lifted his head up to see that the bugbear had pulled his claws back from the bar and turned its gaze towards the former Shadowchaser. "Yer the one that the boss wanted… I faintly remember ya from the other night!"

'_So, this guy's with the BackDraft Corps, eh?'_ Hyde thought as he reached for his pockets. '_It's not a Wendigo, but I'll still need to use my Iron Arms to fight against…'_

That's when Hyde noticed that the pair of gloves he had on when he fought against Jaki the Wendigo were on the ground near the bar! They must've fallen out of his pockets when he jumped out of the way of the attacks!

But Hyde didn't have time to dwell on this fact, the bugbear was charging at him again, claws lifted up and prepared to slice the former Shadowchaser. The distance between Hyde and the bugbear had closed much faster than Hyde expected, but he dipped down just in time to dodge a swift slash from the claws and slid away from the bugbear as the shadowkind chased after the deductive duelist. "Yer not getting away!"

The bugbear continued to slice its claws at Hyde, who in turn managed to dodge them just barely with the claws making contact with the floor, pool tables and even a few of the chairs that were in the room. It wasn't long till Hyde stood in from the of the wall that had the pool cues lined on it, his hands in his pockets with the bugbear cackled. "Got ya now!"

The bugbear charged forward, Hyde not moving a muscle as the feral Shadowkind grew closer and closer. The purple haired bugbear roared loudly as it brought its claws at Hyde with a horizontal pincer attack…

… Only to miss as Hyde managed to flip over the bugbear's head!

The two visible eyes on the bugbear widened when it realized that he missed his target, however, they widened even further when he realized that Hyde had kicked him in the back! The bugbear flew into the wall, snapping a number of pool cues in the process, but flinging a number of them off of the wall as well.

The bugbear wasn't stunned however as he quickly pushed himself from the wall and spun around, "Is that the best you got, you old…"

WHAM!

"URK!" The bugbear wheezed as he felt all the air he had in his lungs shoot out of his mouth, when he looked down, he realized that there was a pool cue jabbing him right in the gut.

The pool cue pulled back and the bugbear saw that Hyde held the pool cue in his hands, just in time to see the wooden sports tool come flying directly into the bugbear's face from the right.

WHAP!

"GARGH!" the bugbear cried out as he stumbled to the left from the force that was impacted on his face.

But that wasn't enough to force the bugbear to back off, if anything, the narrowed eyes signified that the bugbear still aimed to maim the former Shadowchaser – And the bruise on his face matched the bruise on his ego. "You lousy sonva…!"

The bugbear charged again, swiping at Hyde, only to have his claw swatted by the pool cue that Hyde had, "OW!"

The bugbear tried again, only to get his other claw swatted away.

All the while, Hyde stood his ground with a look of indifference painted on his face.

A large blood vessel appeared on the side of the bugbear's head before he charged towards Hyde once again, however, he didn't even get halfway to the former detective when a powerful fist collided with face and sent him flying over the pool tables and through the glass door, shattering it upon impact.

"I was wondering if you'd step into the fray," Hyde stated as he tossed the pool cue on the closest pool table.

Talbain cracked his knuckles loudly before he tossed Hyde the Iron Arms gloves, "Get off my case, mutt. Unless you wanna get a taste of my special knuckle sandwich, guaranteed to give you your fill of blood and broken teeth."

"As tempting as that offer is, I'm going to have to decline," Hyde stated as he slipped the gloves over his hands. "Glad to see that you've still got that punch hidden up your sleeves – I'm assuming that's what caught the attention of the Shadowchasers?"

"I'm not just some wild beast, ya know," Talbain growled under his breath as he crossed his arms. "I happen to know the basics of being a Shadowchaser, I just had bad luck with passing the final tests, mutt.

"But I don't need a license to kick the ass of someone who wrecks my bar."

"True, so true," Hyde admitted as he slammed his fists together. "Well, back out into the fray!"

"Been a while since I've been able to go wild!" Talbain chuckled loudly.

Meanwhile, outside the bar…

The Last Chance Bar was situated as an older alleyway bar, and as such, had trashcans, dumpsters and other sorts of trash lining the alleyway… With the bugbear smashed into one of the dumpsters, trash spilled all over his body. "Ugh, anyone get the license plate of the dump truck that hit me?"

The bugbear raised his hand up and pulled the banana peel that was on his head to the ground, "And damn it, I just got this new hair cut! Now I smell like I spent the night in a fricken' monkey cage!"

"You certainly act like a monkey."

The bugbear lifted his head up, just in time to see two diabolic figures standing over him, both of them with cracking their knuckles loudly. A shiver of terror ran down the bugbear's spine when he realized that it was both Hyde and Talbain who were getting ready to kick his ass!

"Alright, little monkey," Talbain growled as he grabbed the bugbear by the collar and surprisingly lifted up the muscle heavy Shadowkind a few inches off of the ground. "You've got five seconds to spill your guts about why I shouldn't make that snout of yours go into your face for wrecking my bar!"

That's when Hyde got a good look at the bugbear, his brow raised up slightly. When the five seconds were up, Hyde lifted his hand up to Talbain, "Hold up a second. I know this goon…"

"Say what, mutt?" Talbain questioned.

The bugbear looked confused as well, his two exposed eyes blinking a few times.

"Your name is Otso, right?" Hyde questioned as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

"H-How'd you…?" Otso questioned as Talbain dropped him to the ground. "OW!"

"We never actually met before," Hyde continued as he crossed his arms at the surprised bugbear. "But you faced against one of my former coworkers a couple years back, back when you were working for S Reef Lender, I remember the reports."

"W-What?" Otso yelped as he placed his claws on the dumpster behind him. "Ah yeah… Yer right, now I remember ya, you were that one old guy who took down the boss…"

With a small blood vessel appearing on the side of his head, Hyde lifted up his lighter and lit the cigarette in his mouth, "Since you attacked me, I figure one of two things are the cause – One, you wanted revenge for what I did to your former boss… But, since you just pointed out that you just recognized me, I'm going to go for my other theory.

"You're part of the BackDraft Corps, working for Grogg, aren't you?"

Both Otso's and Talbain's eyes widened slightly when they heard that, all the while Hyde took a calm drag on his cigarette, "Before you start denying it, let me say this – You came into the bar before my two associates came in, bugbears have slightly better hearing than humans and so you probably overheard the conversation we were having.

"When I admitted that I was the target for your current boss's vendetta, you probably decided to wait for the other two or me to leave in order for you to get a chance at me. Either that, or you would've tailed me to learn where I was staying so that you could get me alone or so."

'_Looks like the mutt's deductions are still on the mark,'_ Talbain thought to himself with a small smirk on his face.

"Throw in the fact that this bar has security cameras and caught you attacking me," Hyde answered as he pulled the cigarette from his mouth. "So, that seems to be pretty solid evidence to book you for assault and battery… Your choice on whether you wanna do this the easy way or the hard way, bugbear."

Otso barred his teeth and stood up straight.

"You can either spill your guts to save yourself some trouble," Hyde offered. "Or we can do this the rough way."

Otso breathed heavily as his shoulders shuddered with each breath, it was then that he slammed his fist into the side of the dumpster, creating a large dent into the metal. "What do you think, ya hack? There's no way I'm gonna just lie down and take this crap!"

"You certainly seem to be a lot more competent than the other goons I've had the pleasure of dealing with," Hyde answered with a slight smirk on his face as he pulled the cigarette from his mouth. "Fine, then we'll settle this in the manner that Shadowkind are akin to, on the dueling field.

"You win, we'll pretend this never happened, and you can take me to your boss. I'll assume that he'd want me in one piece so he can tear me to pieces himself."

"Yeah, pretty much," Otso stated.

"The flipside of this however," Hyde continued as he placed the cigarette back into his mouth. "Is that if I win, then you're gonna wait here till my friends in the Shadowchasers get back here."

"And if you try something," Talbain growled as he cracked his knuckles loudly. "I'll beat you in an inch of your life!"

Otso barred his teeth as he retracted his claws and reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a pocket duel disk that he strapped to his left arm. "I'm not gunna take this lying down, I may have lost to your co-worker, but that won't be the case with you! Ever since I got out of Vegas, my track record's been spotless against everyone else I've played against.

"Especially since I got this brand new strategy!"

"… Track records don't mean a thing when out on the job," Hyde answered as he stepped back a few feet and pulled up his sleeve to reveal his own duel disk strapped to his arm. "But let's see how long that'll last."

'_Didn't picture the mutt as a duelist,'_ Talbain thought to himself as he crossed his arms, with one of his eyes kept on the door to the bar.

"Duel!" Both duelist shouted out as they pulled off the top cards from their decks.

"We'll call the first turn with a coin toss," Hyde stated as a holographic coin appeared in between the two duelists. "Feel free to call it."

Otso nodded as the coin flipped up into the air, "Tails!"

The holographic coin bounced against the ground a few times until it showed the carvings of a bird on it. Otso smirked as he pulled the sixth card from his deck, "Looks like fate's smiling on me already." (OLP: 8000)

"Go ahead and reside in fate," Hyde stated as he looked at the five cards in his hand, his eyebrow raised slightly at the card. (HLP: 8000)

"I will, thank you very much," Otso chuckled as he looked at the cards in his hand. "And to start off this duel, I'll set two cards face down on the field! And that's all!"

The two cards materialized in front of the bugbear, the back of the cards gleaming in the sunlight.

Hyde raised an eyebrow at the move, but shrugged it off as he drew from the top of his deck, "If that's what you're going to do, then fine by me. I'll start off by summoning Crow Tengu!"

A mass of black feathers floated down from the sky, allowing the Japanese tengu to swoop down in front of Hyde, its feathered arms flapping a few times to keep it afloat over the concrete (1400/1200). Talbain raised an eyebrow at the monster and crossed his arms, '_… You're using his deck? Is that supposed to be a sign of something?'_

"Worried about my face downs?" Otso cackled as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "Ya should be! I play my trap card – Hidden Soldiers! Since you summoned a monster, I can special summon a level four or lower dark monster from my hand!

"And I choose this one!"

Otso's face down card flipped up and allowed a large amount of purple colored spores to flow over the alleyway, which signaled the arrival of an anthromorphic butterfly woman with large purple and black wings with the torso and face of an insectoid-based human female. The butterfly woman clasped her hands together and looked at Hyde with her segmented eyes (1200/1600).

Hyde and Talbain blinked a few times at the bug on the field, both of them with slightly dulled looks on their faces. Hyde held up his cigarette and pointed it towards the bug, "… I heard you ran bugs, but I didn't think it was butterflies."

"Can it!" Otso snapped as he stomped his foot on the ground a few times. "And this is Phantom Butterfly Assassin Morpho, a monster that's much stronger than what you would imagine. Now, continue your move!"

"Not a problem," Hyde muttered as he looked at the five last cards in his hand. '_He could've summoned that on his first turn… So, the question is, why didn't he? I should probably play it safe for a little…'_

"I'll set two cards as well," Hyde announced as the cards emerged on his side of the field. "And I'll end my turn."

"Of course you will," Otso chuckled as he pulled off the top card from his deck. "And watch as I enact my awesome strategy! And the first card on the field is Hand Destruction! Now, both of us discard two cards from our hands and then draw two cards! Simple, right?"

Hyde merely looked over his cards and slipped two cards into his graveyard slot, '_Mezuki and Youko Kit will help out better in the graveyard than on the field.'_

"I'll discard Lady Beetle and Queen Butterfly Danaus," Otso announced before both duelists flicked off the top two cards from their respective decks. "And now, I'll summon Buckeye Assassin!"

Another storm of spores flowed from the air, allowing another woman-like butterfly appear on the field, this one with large black wings that had a slimmer figure and large black wings with a design that looked like a diabolic face. The monster cackled loudly as it crossed its arms (600/1800). "And when this monster is summoned, it's automatically switched to defense mode. And next, I'll play my trap card – Pheromone Paralysis!"

Otso's other face down card lifted up, showing Morpho and another butterfly assassin holding hands together with a cyclone of spores around them. "Now, since I possess two insects, I can switch the battle position of one of your monsters, and I can do this once per turn, during either of our turns."

'_Even if he did that,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he watched Otso look at the last two cards in his hand. '_He still wouldn't be able to have either of his monsters defeat my Tengu…'_

"Next, I'll outfit my Morpho with a fancy equip spell – Web Puppet Strings!" Otso continued as a pair of small cute spiders appeared on Morpho's hands, webs streaming from them as the Phantom Butterfly Assassin lifted her hands up and cackled. "Now watch, as I work my magic! I switch Morpho from defense to attack position!"

Morpho laughed loudly as she uncrossed her arms and spread her wings. When her wings flapped a few times, the threads on the Web Puppet Strings came to life and wrapped around the Crow Tengu's body, forcing the monster crouch down. "You see, when the equipped monster changes battle positions, one of your monsters does too!

"And the best part comes into play with Buckeye Assassin's ability! When one of your monsters changes battle positions, you take six hundred points of damage!"

Hyde lifted his arm up just as the Buckeye blew a kiss towards him, sending a mass amount of spores through the air and right into his chest, making him stagger backwards. (HLP: 7400)

"Not a bad shot," Talbain admitted with his hand on his chin.

"Heh, thanks!" Otso chuckled loudly as he rubbed the bridge of his snout a few times. "And I'm not done yet!"

"Who's side are you on Talbain?" Hyde questioned as he took his cigarette and stomped on it.

"I can admire a good shot," Talbain admitted with a shrug. "Besides mutt, it's not every day I get to see you get the snot handed to you by a pair of butterflies… And I never thought I'd ever say that to you."

"Can I continue with my turn, please?" Otso asked with a dull look in his eyes, and when he got the nods from both Hyde and Talbain, Otso lifted his hand up. "Good! Cause now my trap card activates it's effect! So, your Tengu returns to attack mode, and my Buckeye fires off another round!" (OLP: 7500)

Once again, Hyde held his arm up just as the blown spores flew towards him and crashed into his arms, sending him skidding once more. (HLP: 6800)

As Hyde lowered his arms, he noticed that a large amount of blue spores floated around the field. His eyes trailed the blue spores and saw that they originated from Morpho, who had a demonic smile on her face. "Now what's happening?"

"Morpho's effect," Otso explained with a smirk on his face. "You see, once per turn when a monster changes battle positions I can lower the attack points of one of those monsters. I could've done mine, but yours seemed to be much more appropriate."

Hyde watched as his Crow Tengu fell to the ground, its wings covered with spores and the zombie monster coughed in pain (1400/1200 – 1000/0). "And since it's in attack mode, and my Butterfly Assassin is in attack mode… Well, you can do the math quite easily I assume…

"ATTACK!"

The smirking butterfly assassin smirked as she flew towards the Tengu, only when the Phantom Butterfly Assassin was about to strike the tengu disappeared into a burst of leafs that flew around the alleyway, most of them flew past Hyde's body while the rest reformed back into the Crow Tengu. (HLP: 6000)

"Not happening," Hyde stated as he pulled a card from his deck and held it up to turn in his fingers. "Sure, I'll lose life points, but Kitsune Trickery will prevent my monster's destruction and allow me to discard Gyuki from my deck."

"Big deal," Otso chuckled as he looked at the last card in his hand. "I managed to do enough damage to make a difference. One card set, and turn end."

'_This guy may seem to be a brute,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he drew from his deck. '_But he has a rather weird strategy, controlling the battle positions of opponent's monsters and benefiting from that as well. It's an interesting strategy, but he really exhausted his resources just to pull off that last move. And he's definitely going to pay for that.'_

Hyde snapped his fingers making a powerful flame erupt over the Crow Tengu, "To start this move off, I'll enact Gyuki's effect, I simply tribute Crow Tengu in order to special summon Gyuki from the graveyard!"

The flames completely encased the Crow Tengu and made the yokai disappear, however, it was then that the large, blue furred ox demon appeared in its place, with the club in its hand waving through the air (2200/400).

"And as soon as you summon that," Otso snapped as he threw his hand up into the air, making his trap card glow brightly. "My trap card activates! Pheromone Paralysis switches your monster to defense mode, and my Buckeye Assassin burns off another six hundred points off of ya!" (OLP: 7000)

Hyde narrowed his eyes when he watched his large bull yokai fall to its knees with a fit of coughing, and Hyde threw his arm up just in time to block the oncoming spores that immediately crashed into him. "GRGGH!" (HLP: 5400)

"Hmm, didn't think that effect worked during my turn," Hyde muttered as he lowered his arm and reached into his graveyard slot. "In any case, I continue my turn by activating my face down card – Call of the Haunted! Now, revive Crow Tengu!"

The ground erupted and allowed the black feathered tengu to flutter back onto the field, with its ebony beak opened to screech loudly (1400/1200). "And when this monster is special summoned from the graveyard, one of your monsters bites the dust! And I choose Buckeye Assassin!"

Several black feathers flew through the air until they crashed into the buckeye butterfly lady, shattering the monster into millions of pixels that flew through the air. Otso bit his lower lip as he slid the card into his graveyard slot. "Not a problem, not a problem at all…"

"Then you won't mind if I continue," Hyde stated as he lifted a card up from his hand. "I can still normal summon this turn, and I'll summon the tuner monster, Yuki-Onna!"

A large icicle erupted from the ground in front of Hyde and immediately shattered into millions of shards that danced on the pavement. And in the icicle's place was the icy Japanese beauty who winked towards Talbain (1000/0). "Huh, I don't remember that when 'he' used that deck…"

"And he didn't use what I'm about to summon either," Hyde replied as he snapped his fingers, which allowed the Yuki-Onna to pop into two blue rings of light that flew around the Crow Tengu. For a few moments, the Tengu just stood there with its eyes following the rings until it transformed into four stars of light that flew through the rings and became a large pillar of light that crashed into the ground. "I synchro summon!"

The light shattered into millions of blue flames that licked the walls of the alleyway. The flames began to converge back at the pillar of light and formed into a tall figure that stood in front of Hyde, its entire body covered in red rusted samurai armor with the flames escaping from the cracks between the armor. All the while, a demonic mask adorned the head of the armor with a broken samurai helmet and in the monster's hands was a rusted over katana with blue flames wrapped around it (2000/2000). "From the light of the hundred year moon, Tsukumogami is born!"

"Su… Coo moe gummy?" Otso questioned with a few blinks as he muttered the name to himself a few times, trying to pronounce the name.

"Tsukumogami," Hyde corrected as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. "It's a yokai that was originally an inanimate object, but gained life once it went through a hundred years, or, that's how it goes I guess. Frankly, I'm more for this monster's effect than its symbolism…

"Allow me to show you! Tsukumogami! Attack Morpho!"

The seemingly possessed armor lifted its fiery blade and pointed it towards Morpho, and just stood there. A few seconds passed before a blue and rusty red blur flew past Morpho, and the Tsukumogami skidded behind the butterfly woman, sheathing its sword into the cracked sheathe at it's waist.

Morpho appeared to be unharmed, but as the monster turned around, several cuts appeared on her body, with blue flames pouring out of the wounds. The butterfly woman screeched loudly before she shattered into millions of embers that danced around Otso's body. "URK!" (OLP: 6200)

"I didn't see no effect!" Otso snarled as he held up the equip spell – Web Puppet Strings. "But I got an effect of my own! When my equip card gets sent to the graveyard, I get to draw another card from my deck, so thanks!"

"No need to thank me," Hyde stated as he watched Otso draw his card with a smirk. "But, I should point out that now Tsukumogami's effect activates at this second – When it destroys a monster in battle, once per turn, my armor can attack once more. All I have to do in return, is remove one zombie from my graveyard – Crow Tengu fits the bill quite nicely."

"… What you talkin' bout?" Otso questioned before the Tsukumogami slashed its sword across the bugbear's chest, which made Otso howl out loud in pain. "RAAARGH!" (OLP: 4200)

'_Who would've thought that an attack would inspire a bad Brooklyn accent,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he pulled a cigarette and lit it accordingly. "Alright BackDraft Goon, I've done enough damage this turn, so my turn is over."

"Not yet it ain't!" Otso snarled as he mashed a button on his duel disk. "I'm playing my trap card – Cracked Chrysalis! Now, for every insect on my side of the field that was destroyed, I get to draw a card. However, I gotta show you all of the cards I draw and all spell cards get dropped off to the graveyard."

Otso pulled off the top two cards from his deck and held them up to Hyde for him to see – One was a monster named Rose Papillion and the other was a trap card – Call of the Haunted. "Well, what do ya know, no spells, looks like my luck is still looking good! And since you ended your turn, I can continue with mine!"

'_Once again, I gotta give the bugbear credit,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he watched Otso pluck a fourth card from his deck. '_I wasn't expecting him to be able to refill his hand so quickly.'_

"Now, I play the spell card I drew with my Web Puppet Strings!" Otso announced as he held the card upwards. "Spellbook in the Pot! That cocky little tomboy I fought in Vegas had a copy of it, so I figured I should as well – Three cards is a nice little way to refresh a person's hand."

"Hard to disagree," Hyde stated as he pulled off three cards from his deck. "But is it worth it to help me out?"

"Oh hell yeah!" Otso replied as he slapped a card onto his duel disk. "Lemme show ya! I summon Rose Papillion in attack mode!"

Several rose petals fluttered down from the sky, which allowed a large butterfly with large rose petals for wings to fly around Otso's body, rose petals fluttering around the bugbear (1400/800).

"Next comes another spell card," Otso announced as he turned one of the remaining five cards in his hand, revealing a spell card that had a pair of cell separating from each other. "This one is known as Cell Division, since I possess one insect out on the field, I can special summon a Cell Division Token with the same stats as the insect I choose… And Rose Papillion happens to fit the requirements that I need in order to summon that token!"

The spell card generated a bright light that formed into a second Rose Papillion that crouched on the ground in front of Otso (1400/800). "I'll keep my token in defense position for now since it doesn't gain the effect of my original Papillion, which I can use now that I've got a second Insect on the field!

"My Rose Papillion can attack you directly! Attack, Rose Pollen Onslaught!"

The original Rose Papillion flew higher into the air and immediately flapped its wings several times, which unleashed several rose petals that flew through the air and crashed into Hyde's body. However, Hyde just stood there and took the attack with smoke from his cigarette seeping up into the air. '_I refuse to react to that attack, no matter what.'_ (HLP: 4000)

"Yer a tough one, that's fer sure," Otso admitted as he slipped two cards from his hand into his duel disk. "I'll lay a pair of cards under the table, and let's see you come back from that!"

"He took a hit from a bunch of rose petals," Talbain muttered out loud with a roll of his eyes. "That's not exactly the worst thing a guy can get thrown at him."

"Aw shut up," Otso growled.

Hyde was silent as he drew from his deck, giving him seven cards in his hand, '_I've got way too many cards in my hand… But that won't be an issue to deal with.'_

"I'll start off with Dark World Dealings, you're not the only one who can do some drawing."

Both Hyde and Otso drew from the top of their decks, and in both swift moments, both duelists slipped their selected cards into their graveyard slots. Talbain cocked an eyebrow as he watched them, '_They both must have plans, they both discarded real quick…'_

Hyde lifted up a card from his hand and spun it around, "I know what you plan on doing, but I'm not going to deal with that trap card of yours again – I play Mystical Space Typhoon!"

A powerful burst of air shot through the alleyway and crashed into the face up Paralysis Pheromone, shattering the trap card into the wind. Otso scoffed to the side as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever…"

"Next, I'll switch Gyuki back to attack mode," Hyde continued as the blue furred Yokai stood up with a loud growl. "And now, Gyuki! Attack his original Rose Papillion!"

The large bull demon jumped through the air and immediately slammed its club into the Rose Papillion, crushing it into the pavement with a sickening splat sound. (OLP: 3400)

"And when Gyuki smashes through a monster," Hyde added as he pumped his fist forward. "You get blasted with another six hundred points of damage!"

The ox demon snorted loudly, allowing several blue flames to pour out of the monster's nostrils and billowed around Otso's body, which made the bugbear stagger backwards as the flames struck him. "Damn it!" (OLP: 2800)

'_This seems… Rather easy,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he snapped his hand forward. "And now, Tsukumogami, attack the token!"

The living armor charged forward and slashed down on the cell token, cleaving the insect in two…

However, as the remains of the token began to disappear, the ground in front of Otso began to open up, and a large amount of spores shot into the alleyway. Along with the spores, eight large wings with eye-like designs on them erupted from the ground and slowly flapped to allow a large insectoid creature to pull itself free from the concrete. The insect screeched loudly, literally shaking all of the trashcans and debris in the alleyway in its wake (2800/1900). Hyde nearly dropped his cigarette in his mouth at the sight of the large butterfly in front of him, but he just settled for a raise of his brow, "What. The. Hell?"

"You like it?" Otso chuckled with a lick of his chops. "Thanks to Call of the Haunted, I didn't have to pay a dime to bring out Queen Butterfly Danaus. And she's one of my better monsters in this deck, in more ways than one."

Hyde merely took a long drag on his cigarette and exhaled a large cloud of smoke that floated around him. Then without a moment of hesitation, Hyde pulled two cards from his hand and slipped them into his duel disk. "Two cards set, and I'll set a monster for good measure."

"Of course you will," Otso chuckled as he drew from his deck. "I bet I know what yer thinkin' old timer?"

Hyde closed his eyes and growled deeply, "… And I'm betting that you don't anymore."

Otso didn't seem to care for Hyde's last statement cause he smirked and pulled his hand back into the air, "I'm betting you're thinking that my big bad butterfly can easily crush your puny little monsters… Well, good ole Otso's not blind, I got four good eyes and all of them are spying your face down cards, so, I'll elect to use Danaus' ability! By draining its attack to zero, I can special summon three level four or lower Insects from my graveyard!"

Danaus began to flap its wings greatly, creating a storm of spores to fly around the alleyway. From the spores the Rose Papillion (1400/800), the Buckeye Assassin (600/1800), and a new monster – This one a large beetle with a black exoskeleton and a pair of feminine eyes (700/1600) - all appeared onto the field, each of them flying over Otso's field with grace. "I choose Rose Papillion, Buckeye Assassin and Lady Beetle… But now, I'll play the spell card Advance Draw! Since Danaus has served her purpose, this spell card allows me to release her to draw two cards!"

Danaus popped into millions of spores as Otso pulled off the top two cards from his deck and fanned them in front of him. With a smirk, he slipped the cards into his hand and pulled out another card – Now, I play the spell card, Heavy Storm!"

Hyde's eyes widened as he watched the powerful storm sweep across the field, slamming into both his two face down cards and Otso's own set card. '_Well, there goes Mirror Force and Defense Draw…'_

"And I should point out that my face down card was known as Wasteland Tornado," Otso contended as a second storm swept the field. "Which when destroyed while face down, forces me to destroy a card on the field – I'll take out that eyesore Gyuki."

The dusty twister sped across the field and slammed into the blue furred Yokai, dragging the ox demon into the air and make it disappear into the wide blue yonder with the twister. Hyde blinked a few times as he pocketed the card with the rest of the cards he had removed. "When Gyuki's removed from the field after I special summon it with its effect, it's removed from the game."

"Like I care!" Otso replied as he lifted his hand up towards all three of his monsters, all of which began transform into various colored lights – the Rose Papillion a green light, Lady Beetle dark brown, and the Buckeye Assassin turned into a dark purple light. "You see, I got something that's much more dangerous, something that goes past synchros – The next generation of cards…"

"… Next generation?" Hyde and Talbain questioned as all three of the monsters on Otso's field immediately became solid lights and flew through the air.

"I overlay all three of my level three monsters!" Otso roared as a powerful vortex appeared in front of him, drawing in all three of the lights into it.

"What the hell is this?" Hyde questioned, taking a step backwards as a powerful burst of light erupted from the vortex.

"This… Is an Exceed Summon!" Otso laughed loudly as two extremely large golden wings shot from the light. "By overlaying all three of my monsters, I can special summon a monster from my extra deck – An Exceed Monster! So, arise – The Golden Monarch!"

The light shattered to reveal a rather beautiful young woman attached to the large butterfly wings, save for the fact that she was insectoid with two large antennae atop of her head, large, segmented blue eyes, had four arms that ended in suspiciously sharp claws and at the abdomen of the creature was a large emerald that glowed brightly (1500/1500). And around the monster's body were three glowing green lights that orbited around its body.

"What the hell is this?" Hyde growled looking at the weird monster. "Exceed?"

"Unlike Synchro monsters," Otso cackled as he wagged a clawed finger at Hyde as the Golden Monarch did the same with two of her hands. "Exceed don't need tuner monsters to be summoned, all they need are monsters that are the same level in order to summon them from the extra deck. And since all three of my insects were level three, my Rank three Golden Monarch can be summoned!"

'_Okay, looks like I've been out of the game for longer than I thought,'_ Hyde thought to himself as he eyed the winged insect in front of him. '_I've never even heard of Exceed monsters before, and I don't even wanna know what this monster can do since it needs three monsters to summon it.'_

"Time to show you what the Golden Monarch can do!" Otso laughed loudly as he reached for his duel disk.

'_Crap!'_

"By removing one of the exceed materials from underneath it," Otso explained as one of the lights that orbited around his Golden Monarch flew into the glowing gem on her stomach. "My monster can change the battle position of one face up monster on the field once per turn! I choose your monster!"

The Golden Monarch raised one of her hands up to her lips and blew a kiss towards the Tsukumogami, sending a storm of glittering gold dust to fly towards the armor. At first, the living armor tried to fight off the spores, but slowly knelt down with its sword sheathed.

"And guess what?" Otso cackled as he smirked devilishly. "Whenever a monster changes its battle positions while my monster is on the field, she gains six hundred attack and defense points!"

The Golden Monarch screeched loudly as the gem on her abdomen glowed brighter (1500/1500 + 600/600). "But while I'm at it, I'll summon another insect - Coppertone Butterfly!"

Once again, a mass of spores flowed through the air that announced the arrival of another butterfly-like monster, again with a woman-like body with insectoid features and a pair of large wings that were copper in color (1100/900). "And as long as this monster's out on the field, all insects on the field gain three hundred more attack points!"

A powerful copper colored aura seeped from the Coppertone Butterfly (1100/900 + 300/0) and flowed into the Golden Monarch (2100/2100 + 300/0). Otso chuckled loudly as he threw his hand forward, "Golden Monarch! Eliminate that piece of scrap metal!"

The beautiful, yet deadly insectoid flew across the field and stabbed her claws into the armor's body and slammed it into the ground, shattering the fiery armor into the concrete. Hyde grumbled under his breath as he slipped the destroyed monster's card into his graveyard slot.

And once more, Otso threw his arm forward and pointed a finger at Hyde as if he was pointing a gun at the former detective, "And without that eyesore, you're set for a direct attack! Coppertone Butterfly! Strike him!"

With a loud screech, the Coppertone Butterfly flapped her wings strongly and fired a powerful stream of spores from its wings. The spores flew around Hyde's body, which made him cough loudly and drop his cigarette to the ground, "Sonva-!" (HLP: 2600)

"Next, I'll set one card face down," Otso chuckled to himself as he watched his set card materialize in front of him. "And I'll call it a turn!"

Hyde looked down at his cigarette, still smoldering from when it was moments ago in his mouth. While he was a smoker, Hyde did have some standards when it came to his bad habit, and he wasn't too addicted to pick up one off of the ground. So with a loud growl, Hyde lifted his foot up and stomped his boot onto the cigarette. "Alright, you've got some moves there… Otso, right?"

"At least you're able to remember my name," Otso muttered to the side.

"And I'll admit you got me with that Exceed monster of yours," Hyde admitted as he drew from the top of his deck. "But, that's all going to stop right now! I activate the effect of Mezuki from my graveyard!"

Two cards slipped out from Hyde's graveyard slot, one was the Mezuki card he had in his hands while the other one was a familiar white bordered card, "So, by removing it from the game, I can special summon one Zombie from my graveyard. And unlike a number of my other synchro cards, Tsukumogami can be special summoned in other ways!"

In a powerful fiery blaze, the living armor reappeared in front of Hyde, its blade drawn and engulfed in blue flames (2000/2000).

Otso smirked as he threw his arm to the side, "Oh? Are you gonna try to pull off that monster's effect again? Fat chance! Even if you do manage to power up that monster with the hard name to pronounce, I've still got my Exceed Monster's ability! And I can use her power during your turn as well!"

"… Good to know," Hyde stated as he lifted up a card from his hand. "It's a good thing that I saved Shutendoji for my normal summon!"

Another flame appeared on the field, and the gourd wielding ogre appeared in front of Hyde, guzzling down the sake that was inside the gourd (1500/800). "And I use his effect, allowing me to return one Zombie from my removed from play pile back to the top of my deck. I'll go with Mezuki…"

Hyde slipped the card atop of his deck and immediately held up another card from his hand, "Next comes the Dark World Dealing's spell card!"

Otso's exposed eyes widened as he watched Hyde pull of the top card from his deck, Otso growled under his breath and did the same. Then both duelists discarded, Hyde had discarded the card he just drew and then threw his hand forward. "Next, I'll activate the effect of the Youko Kit in my graveyard, allowing me to return both my Crow Tengu and my Gyuki back to my deck to summon it from my graveyard!"

A small, ghostly flame popped in front of Hyde and from it tumbled a small red fox that had a large green leaf atop of its head. The fox shook its head and revealed that the small kit had a pair of tails that had embers at the end of them (300/200). Hyde shuffled the cards into his deck as the Youko Kit leapt to Hyde's shoulder and nestled next to his neck.

Otso raised an eyebrow at the weird choice in monsters, "And what the hell is that thing supposed to be?"

"I wouldn't be concerned with it at the moment," Hyde stated as he looked at the three remaining cards in his hand. "I'd be more concerned with what I'm about to play – Foolish Burial! So, the Crow Tengu goes back to my graveyard… But it's not staying there long!"

Otso's eyes widened as the placement of cards, watching as Hyde slipped two cards from his graveyard, the Crow Tengu and the Mezuki card. And once Hyde slapped the Crow Tengu card onto his duel disk, the crow yokai flew through the air dove right through the Golden Monarch's body.

When the tengu pierced through the butterfly woman's abdomen, the monarch screeched loudly in pain before she fizzled away into golden dust. Otso's eyes widened at the sight of what just transpired before him, "N-No… M-My Exceed… The gift from my n-new boss…"

"I'd pay attention if I were you!" Hyde announced as the Tsukumogami held his fiery blade over his head. "Because now that your monster is gone and you can't use it's effect… I'm ending this!"

The living armor dashed across the field towards the Coppertone Butterfly, garnering Otso's attention as he flew his duel disk up to his hand, "Don't think so! I still got this up my sleeve – Mirror Force!"

A powerful barrier of light erupted in between Otso's field and the charging samurai armor, and broke into millions of shards that flew towards Hyde's field, flying towards all four of the monsters that were on Hyde's field. "HA! And all I gotta do next turn is draw a monster, and I'll be able to finish you off and… And… And… Oh…"

Several bolts of lightning flew down from the sky and crashed into the Mirror Force's shards, which destroyed the trap card and its counter assault. Otso's eyes widened as he staggered back from the sight, "Wha… What the hell!"

"My Body as a Shield," Hyde stated as he held the spell card up with smoke floating away from his body. "It may have cost me some life points, but it was worth it… Now, before I was interrupted… Tsukumogami!" (HLP: 1100)

Otso staggered back as he watched his Coppertone Butterfly get sliced in half and burned by the blue flames. (OLP: 2200)

But when the flames began to die away, several regular red flames crashed into his body which had erupted from the mouth of the Shutendoji and licked around the bugbear's sides. "ARGH!" (OLP: 700)

And before Otso knew it, the Crow Tengu dove right into his stomach and knocked the air out of his lungs. (OLP: 0)

"This… This…" Otso muttered to himself as he began to recover from the onslaught of final attacks. "This isn't over yet! I'm…"

Otso never got a chance to finish that sentence, for in between the attacks, Hyde had closed the gap between him and Otso. And with his Iron Arms still on his hands, Hyde slammed an open palmed hand right into Otso's face and slammed the Bugbear into the ground, which sent a small shockwave through the alleyway.

Talbain pulled off his sunglasses and smirked, "Well, congrats there mutt, I guess. I was hoping you'd get your ass handed to you by a bunch of girly butterflies for a few seconds though."

With a loud sigh, Hyde stood up and rolled his eyes at Talbain, "I don't wanna hear that from you."

"Whatever – Still, that seemed a bit over the top," Talbain muttered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, you knocked him out pretty quick there."

"Not like I had a choice in the matter," Hyde said as he reached into his pocket and produced his pack of Lucky Seven cigarettes. "I doubt that even if he had lost, he wouldn't keep his part of the bargain – Supernatural creatures tend to think that they don't have to keep promises with regular guys like me and you… Well, with guys like me at least."

"Was that a shot at me being weird, you mutt?" Talbain growled as he placed the sunglasses over his eyes again. "I at least I'm not addicted to those devil sticks."

"Not like I've got an infinite ammo of them," Hyde replied as he crushed the empty box and tossed it into the dumpster nearby. "Anyway, I better get Irving on the line, he'll probably be ecstatic that I got a member of the BackDraft Corps."

"Whatever, I gotta get back to work," Talbain replied as he slid on his heel and strolled back to the bar. "Unlike Shadowchasers, I gotta work for my own income – And I've got a customer waiting to be served."

However as Talbain said that, the pink haired customer sped out of the Last Chance Bar, a frightened look painted on his face as he dashed past both Hyde and Talbain. Talbain watched with a flat look in his eyes as the pink haired man turned the corner and out of sight, "… Well crap, there goes my business."

Hyde smirked to himself but then looked down at Otso as he lifted up his cell phone from his pocket… Then his eyes widened, '_Wait a second… That pink haired man! He was with this guy! He could've been in with the BackDraft Corps!'_

"Talbain!" Hyde shouted, making Talbain jump slightly.

"What, mutt?" Talbain snarled.

"Keep an eye on this guy," Hyde stated as he tossed his phone to Talbain. "And call Irving for me! I gotta catch Pinky!"

Before Talbain could even get a word in, Hyde ran towards the alley's opening to give chase after the pink haired man. However, when Hyde turned the corner, he was met with a sea of people walking through the streets. With his jaw tightly clenched, Hyde slammed his fist into his hand, "Damn it!"

'… _At least I was able to get one member… And with a little questioning, we'll be able to learn more about the BackDraft Corps…_

'_But what about that pink haired loser? He'll probably report this to his boss…'_

TBC

**TTTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Phantom Butterfly Assassin – Morpho / Dark / LV. 4 / ATK: 1200 / DEF: 1600 / Insect/Effect:** Once per turn, when a monster changes its Battle Position: That monster loses 1000 ATK. **  
>Description:<strong> an anthromorphic butterfly woman with large purple and black wings with the torso and face of an insectoid-based human female  
><em>This card was used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal anime.<em>

**Queen Butterfly Danaus / Wind / LV. 8 / ATK: 2800 / DEF: 1900 / Insect/Effect:** During either player's turn, you can have this card's ATK become 0 to select 3 Level 4 or lower Insect-Type monsters in your Graveyard, and Special Summon those monsters in Attack Position.**  
>Description:<strong> A large diabolic butterfly with eight large wings with eye-like designs on them and several jagged legs

Lady Beetle / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 700 / DEF: 1600 / Insect/Effect:

Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle.**  
>Description: <strong>a large beetle with a black exoskeleton and a pair of feminine eyes

Rose Papillion / Wind / LV. 3 / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 800 / Insect/Effect:

While another Insect-Type monster is face-up on the field, this card can attack your opponent directly.**  
>Description:<strong> a large butterfly with large rose petals for wings  
><em>The three preceding cards were used by JohanJesse in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga._

**Cell Division / Normal Spell / Effect:** Select 1 face-up Level 3 or lower Insect-Type monster you control. Special Summon 1 'Cell Division Token' that has the same original Level, Type, Attribute, ATK and DEF as the selected monster.**  
>Image:<strong> A pair of cells separating from each other.  
><em>This card was used by WeevilInsector in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime_

**Buckeye Assassin / DARK / LV. 3 / ATK: 600 / DEF: 1800 / Insect/Effect: **When this card is Normal Summoned, switch this card to Defense Position. When one of your your opponent's monsters changes battle position, deal 600 damage to your opponent's life points.**  
>Description:<strong> woman-like butterfly appear on the field, this one with large black wings that had a slimmer figure and large black wings with a design that looked like a diabolic face

**Coppertone Butterfly / Dark / LV. 3 / ATK: 1100 / DEF: 900 / Insect/Effect: **This card can be Special Summoned from your hand when you control no monsters on your side of the field. While this card is on the field, INSECT Type monsters gain 300 ATK.**  
>Description:<strong> a butterfly with woman-like body that has insectoid features and a pair of large wings that were copper in color  
><em>The preceding two cards were created by MichaelDJ45, credit goes to him<em>

**Pheromone Paralysis / Continuous Trap / Effect:** Once per turn, if you control two or more Level 4 or lower Insect-Type monsters, you may pay 500 life points. If this is done, you may switch the battle position of one face up monster on the field (this effect can be used during either player's turn). **  
>Image:<strong> A pair of butterfly women dancing about with pollen and spores around them.

**The Golden Monarch / Dark / Rank 3 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1500 / Insect/Exceed/Effect:** [3 Level 3 Insect-Type monsters] When a monster's battle position is changed, increase this card's ATK and DEF by 600 points. Once per turn, you may remove one Exceed Material from this card to change the battle position of one monster on the field (this effect can be used during either yours or your opponent's turn).**  
>Description:<strong> a rather beautiful young woman attached to the large butterfly wings, save for the fact that she was insectoid with two large antennae atop of her head, large, segmented blue eyes, had four arms that ended in suspiciously sharp claws and at the abdomen of the creature was a large emerald that glowed brightly

Web Puppet Strings / Equip Spell / Effect:

This card can only be equipped to an Insect-Type monster. When the equipped monster changes battle positions, select one monster on the field and switch its battle position. If this card is destroyed while equipped to a monster, you may draw one card. **  
>Image:<strong> a pair of small cute spiders appeared on Phantom Butterfly Assassin - Morpho's hands, several webs shooting out from them.

Cracked Chrysalis / Normal Trap / Effect:

During the turn this card is activated, for each of your level four or lower DARK Insect-Type monsters that are destroyed, you may draw one card. Reveal all cards to your opponent and then discard all spell cards that were drawn with this card's effect.**  
>Image:<strong> A Cocoon of Evolution with several cracks in it with a pair of Great Moth wings popping from behind it

Tsukumogami / Earth / LV. 6 / ATK: 2000 / DEF: 2000 / Zombie/Synchro/Effect:

[1 Zombie-Type Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Zombie-Type monsters] Once per turn, when this card successfully destroys a monster as a result of battle, by removing one Zombie-type monster from your graveyard, this card can attack once more. **  
>Description:<strong> red rusted samurai armor with the flames escaping from the cracks between the armor – a demonic mask adorned the head of the armor with a broken samurai helmet and in the monster's hands was a rusted over katana with blue flames

**Youko Kit / Fire / LV. 1 / ATK: 300 / DEF: 200 / Zombie/Tuner: **By returning two of your removed from play Zombie-Type monsters to the bottom of your deck, you may special summon this card from your graveyard. If this effect is used and this card is removed from the field, remove this card from play.**  
>Description:<strong> a small red fox that has a large green leaf atop of its head and a pair of tails that had embers at the end of them

**TTTTTTTT**

_**Next time on Dark City Chronicles!**_

_**While Hyde has managed to garner a clue towards more about the BackDraft Corps, another Shadowchaser has dealings with Shadowkind related crimes.**_

_**For foreigners, the shores of New York City have been the sight of opportunity and for many Shadowkind, they see opportunity as well – But for some, it's to feast on the dreams and hopes of others.**_

_**Will the most hotheaded Shadowchaser in New York be able to deal with a being from the deepest depths of the bay?**_

_**Find out next time in:**_

_**Draw 8**_

_**Ocean's Keeper**_


	9. Draw 8: Deepsea Warrior

_**It's not easy being a Shadowkind while in the ranks of the Shadowchasers, a number of other Shadowkind see you as a bit of a traitor working under someone who is repressing the rights of Shadowkind all around this world. Personally, I don't care about what people say about me behind my back… Okay, that's a lie, and I know it. I physically attack anyone who tries to piss me off with those kinds of remarks. **_

_**But, when you're a Shadowkind that has a track record that's in the red with interacting with other people, you tend to have Shadowkind Society frown on you automatically. That's why I work so hard and don't take crap from anyone, I worked hard on my own terms to get where I am, and while I have had a rocky time as of late, I won't stop till I reach the top.**_

… _**I have to do so…**_

_**I owe it to 'him'…**_

_**TTTTTTTT**_

_**Draw 8**_

_**Deepsea Warrior**_

_**TTTTTTTT**_

_Time: 12:03 p.m._

"Hey there, Nathaniel here!"

"Good, cause I've got some…"

"Just kidding! This is my answering machine! I'm not in the casita right now, so leave your low-down at the beep. Hasta!"

"… Whatever, Mr. Carine, this is Leorina…"

"You have reached the voiced mail system. To leave a message, please wait for the tone."

"I know how to leave a message!"

"When you are finished recording, please hang up or press pound for more options."

"Really? Hang up? I was just going to keep talking until the battery in my phone died!"

"For fax options, please press five."

"Who uses a fax machine anymore?"

"To mark this message as urgent, press eleven."

"THERE IS NO ELEVEN!"

"To repeat these options, please press…"

CLICK!

"Well there's ten minutes of my life I won't be getting back," Leorina sighed to herself as she fell back into her hotel room's couch, tossing her phone to the side.

It wasn't long since she got out of the shower and braided her hair back into its patented braid, with the charm at the bottom of it (she had gotten used to doing it, and had learned how to perform the braid quite quickly) and had spotted Nathaniel Z. Carine's business card/note on the bathroom counter.

She wasn't sure how she got back to her room, or where the card had come from, but she had thought right off the bat to reach the weird businessman. But after trying to get a hold of the mysterious businessman for the last few minutes, and dealing with the surprisingly annoying answering machine, Leorina had decided to give up on trying to get ahold of the oddly named businessman.

'_Not like its any skin off my nose,'_ Leorina thought to herself as she threw her arms behind her head. '_Whatever he wanted, I can still find out when I meet him in person…'_

KNOCK, KNOCK!

"Hmm?" Leorina questioned as she turned towards the door.

"Miss Childsman, I have your room service."

"Oh, thanks," Leorina called back as she sat back into the couch. "The door's unlocked."

"Very well. One moment madam, I'll bring it in."

'… _Madam? I'm not old enough to be referred to like that…'_ Leorina thought to herself as the door opened up.

Slowly from the opened door stepped in the waiter with a push cart that had a silver tray cover atop of it. The waiter himself was dressed in a white suit with a black vest that clung neatly to his muscular frame and he had short, fine groomed brown hair. "I believe that you ordered some hot cakes and a glass of OJ."

"Yeah, that's right," Leorina stated as she stood up and reached into her pants' back pocket and began to pull out her wallet. However, when she lifted her head up to look at the waiter, Leorina's eyes widened and she dropped her wallet to the ground. For an awkward moment, Leorina just stared at the waiter, who was looking left and right. "Uh madam, are you alright? You seem to…"

"J-Just leave the cart here," Leorina sputtered as she took a step back from the waiter. "A-And charge y-your tip to the r-r-room. I… I'm feeling generous."

"Ah, well, thank you," The waiter stated with a raised eyebrow. "If you require anything else, please do not hesitate to call the front desk and please leave the cart outside your room."

And with a slight bow, the waiter exited the room with the door closed behind him. All the while, Leorina had slumped to the ground, her eyes wide and her arms wrapped around her shaking form, '_W-What the h-hell was that?'_

Though she had seen the waiter before in her stay in the hotel (the voice was how she was able to identify him), he was different this time when Leorina saw him just a few moments ago. Instead of the ruggedly handsome waiter with slightly messy dark hair atop of his head was a beast with small black fur covering his skin, his hands were larger and seemed to be tipped with claws and his face was rather stout with a snout poking from the middle.

But the most frightening factor of all were the four red eyes that were in the place of the man's regular two, all of them seemed to pierce into her very soul.

What she just saw was a bugbear…

**TTTTTTTTTT**

_Time: 12:11 p.m.  
>Location: ?<em>

It was a quiet early afternoon for Raiden, most of his members in the BackDraft Corps were working their beats or other professions, and with Jin taking his week off already, that just left Raiden to toil in his office. '_I got into the gang business because I thought I wouldn't have to be a pencil pusher… But here I am, filing forms and making sure the documents at least look somewhat up to code…_

'_So much more work to do!'_

Indeed, the golden haired gang leader was going through a large pile of paperwork that sat upon his desk, a pen in his hand to sign his fake signature onto the documents. Despite how the movies and popular fiction made it out to be, gangs weren't as luxurious as they were made out to be – Raiden was evidence of that. There was a lot of work to make sure that every legal loophole was exploited, everything was done in order, and that all the gang members were satisfied as to make sure that they wouldn't blab should they get caught.

Of course, even then, it was a risky business – Especially if you were in the business with Shadowkind, not only would you attract the eyes of regular law enforcement, but you'd also have to deal with the Shadowchasers as well…

"Man, is it always this dead around noon here?"

Raiden lifted his head up from his paperwork to see a familiar cloaked figure sauntering into the room, her blue cloak covering up the upper portion of her body, but was short enough to reveal the toned, tanned legs and black boots that she wore.

"It's a weekday, what do you expect?" Raiden replied as he looked back down at his paperwork.

"I expected to see some illegal shenanigans," The cloaked woman growled back as she fell back into the couch in Raiden's office. "But all I come here to see is some pencil pusher working on piles of paperwork – Not what I expected to see from a prominent gang leader… Or half of one."

Raiden sighed as he placed his pen on the desk and stood up, "Miss, are you familiar with the name – Capone?"

"In this business, who isn't?" the cloaked woman retorted.

"Al Capone was the man who led the Chicago Outfit," Raiden stated as he walked from behind his desk and stood in front of it. "Who had specialized in smuggling, bootlegging liquor, and a number of other illegal activities. He was surprisingly born here in New York City, and was introduced into the gang game at the age of fourteen when he got booted out from school.

"During his time as a gang member, he had become a highly visible public figure in Chicago – He made a number of donations to many charities with the funds that he made from his illegal activities, and was regarded as a modern-day Robin Hood during his time."

"Oh for the love of," The cloaked woman sighed loudly. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't wanna go down like he did? Being caught on tax evasion?"

"While it is true that I endeavor to not get caught like that," Raiden stated as he crossed his arms. "That wasn't the full point of what I was getting at – While I am running an illegitimate business, I am aiming to make it seem like it is totally legit. Just one wrong mistake and this whole gang could be taken down.

"I also have to worry about public image as well – Once again, take Al Capone as example. He was considered a modernized Robin Hood, but he still maintained that title even after the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, where he was criticized for his involvement of the execution of seven rival gang members. Even then, thanks to his good name, Capone wasn't arrested for that involvement.

"Therefore, I'm also setting aside some of the profits that my half of the BackDraft Corps and making sure that is being transferred to some respectable charities so that in the unlikely event that I am arrested, I can at least have the will of the people on my side in the courtroom and infect the jury pool."

"Uh huh, that's a good plan in all," the cloaked figure retorted with a flat tone. "But you realize that it won't work in Jalal's court… And we both know what you are."

"… I'm not worried at all," Raiden replied with a shrug. "I have a means of dealing with that should the day ever come. But enough about my insurance against the courts, why are you here?"

"Oh, nothing much," the cloaked woman replied as she waved her hand up. "My boss is just in the market for some specific talent, and he wanted me to call upon you to see if you have any of that raw talent we're looking for."

"And he couldn't look on the internet for this talent?" Raiden questioned with a raised eyebrow. "What kind of talent is the guy looking for anyway?"

"Tell me, what do you know about summoning?"

Raiden had to blink a few times when he heard that and shook his head, "I'm sorry, I thought you said summoning…"

"I did," The cloak woman repeated. "We're looking for a summoner, but not just any summoner, he's in the market for a summoner that can do some other work without causing a stir in the Big Apple – Someone competent and discreet, but also capable of working with a limited amount of time."

"And he thought to come to me about this?" Raiden sighed as he sat down on his desk. "… When does he need this person?"

"Three days," The cloaked woman answered quickly.

Raiden blinked a few times at woman's timeframe and then spoke out clearly, "… Are you serious? Three days?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding around?" The woman replied.

"I honestly can't tell," Raiden stated flatly as he pointed towards the woman. "You're wearing that cloak all the time, if it wasn't for your figure and your legs, I wouldn't have pictured you as a woman in the first place. Until the summer months came by, I always thought that you were just a guy going through puberty with your voice like that."

For a few moments, the cloaked woman was silent at what Raiden had said, but then took a deep breath. "… Back on the subject at hand. Can you or can't you find a summoner of that skill that I described?"

Raiden sighed loudly and turned his attention towards the side, his face somewhat contorted and his brow narrowed down. "I think I might know something that can fall into those categories. It's not a surefire thing since the person I'm thinking of doesn't necessarily give out her skills to those who are looking for it. In fact, she sees the ability to be quite troublesome."

"Can you get her to do the job done or not?" The woman reiterated.

"I'll need a day to do so," Raiden answered. "The woman's quite strong willed, and I'll need to do some digging on her in order to coerce her into helping us. However, you'll have to tell your boss that he'll need to get all of the proper materials to perform the summoning."

"That's fine, we were already doing so," The cloaked woman replied as she lifted her legs up and rested them on the couch. "We just need someone who can pull of the summoning as soon as possible."

"What exactly are you planning on summoning?" Raiden questioned raising an eyebrow.

"And what business is that of yours?" The cloaked woman retorted.

"… Cause, one, you're using my resources," Raiden counted out with one of his hands raised up as he lifted up some of his fingers. "Two, no doubt you're going to summon something in New York City, and as one half of the major gang in the city, I have to show concern. Three, your boss may have my trust, but his actions are still shifty to me. And four, I have a right to know this sort of stuff."

"Wow, that was quite quick," The woman admitted as she threw her arms behind her head and began to lay down. "But it won't matter to me – I don't know all of the details. Besides, I prefer to deal with issues in person – That's the only way to go in my opinion."

'_Says the girl who's nothing more than a messenger dog between me and my benefactor,'_ Raiden thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. "… Speaking of, shouldn't you go talk to your boss about what I'm going to do?"

"I will," The woman yawned as she stretched her body. "After I catch up on some sleep – This is a surprisingly comfy couch, I could catch up on my forty winks on this."

"Now wait a minute, I got work to do and," Raiden started…

… Only to be stopped by some light, yet cute snoring that slowly filled the office's air. '_… Did she just fall asleep in five seconds flat? That's pretty impressive, if not annoying.'_

**TTTTTTT**

_Time: 12:26 p.m.  
>Location: East River, Hell Gate Bridge – Queens <em>

Hell Gate Bridge, also known as the East River Arch Bridge, was a bridge that connected the borough of Queens, Randall's Island and the Bronx. It was a large railroad bridge that provided transportation over the East River, and was an impressive sight to see from the shores.

Why was it called Hell Gate Bridge?

For the bridge was built over the straight named Hell Gate, which was aptly named from the journals of a Dutch explorer named Adriaen Block who was the first European to have navigated the strait. Hell Gate was known for its hazardous waters, hidden rocks, and tide-driven currents that had claimed hundreds of vessel that had traveled into the waterway.

After the many sunken ships, the waterway was cleared with a massive number of bombs (which was the largest planned explosion before atomic bomb testing) and made safe for ships.

That's the official record.

However, in the Shadowkind world, Hell Gate was known as a bit of a haven for some of the more sin-filled and aquatic Shadowkind – Succubi, Mermen, and various others were sighted here at the riversides.

Near the base of the bridge was a known spot by Shadowkind for meeting with each other for many deals. However, most of these deals usually took place in the dead of night – but apparently that wasn't the case in this one instance.

Leaned up against a concrete support to the bridge near the water was a short, green cloak covered person. The person was covered up from their feet all the way up to their head, their face completely hidden from view. The green cloaked person tapped their foot against the hard ground a few times as they looked to the water's edge crash into the sides of the river. '_What's taking them so long? They were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago…'_

However, when the cloaked person was thinking that, the water near them began to bubble wildly with steam rising from it, "Hmm, from that cloak, I can probably guess that you're the one I'm supposed to meet…

"Funny, I figured my contact would be more on the tall, dark and handsome type. Oh well."

From the bubbling water arose a tall woman, almost as if she was riding atop of a lift. The woman in question was a cold beauty – a pair of sharp eyes, long dark blue hair that fell to her shoulders and small of her back, and a buxom figure that was accented by the clothes that hugged her curves – A dark blue bikini with a sky blue, flowing sash wrapped around her thin waist. But, what was more eye-catching about the woman was that she had sky blue skin with several dark blue runes running up and down her skin, and she had a pair of large fins on her back that flicked off some water.

This was a nereid – an oceanic equivalent to a succubus, a demon known to be the definition of the sin of lust. Unlike succubi though, nereids were known to only go after men of the seas to satisfy their 'needs' and while they were known to be able to walk on land, nereids couldn't get away from any source of water – It is a literal life line to the species.

"Uh, does it really matter who does the job if it gets done right?" The cloaked person questioned with their head tilted slightly.

"I suppose someone as small as you wouldn't understand," The nereid sighed loudly as she folded her arms under her impressive chest. "Finding a good man in this city is like trying to find a goldfish in the deep blue ocean… Especially if you're chained to the water here."

"I'm surprised you'd even take residence in the East River," the cloaked person commented. "That stuff is more liquid trash than water… And with all the dead bodies floating about…"

"Hey, if Kramer can swim through it," the nereid countered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"That was a TV show!" the cloaked person snapped back.

Once again, the nereid simply shrugged her shoulders, "Regardless, I've been swimming in the East, hell, I've practically been living in the East River for most of my life. It's not so bad once you get used to it, and besides, it's got its own charm."

"Ugh, I know how you feel with water," The cloaked person replied with a gagging motion. "But I'd rather dry out in the sun than go into that mess. A-Anyway, do you have the item in question?"

"Hmm, that all depends," The nereid cooed with her fingers at her lips. "Do you have what I want?"

The green cloaked person nodded towards the nereid and produced a small silver case that they held up by the handle. Then with one shift motion, the cloaked person laid the case in her arm and opened up to reveal a number of crisp hundred dollar bills held together by rubber bands. The nereid licked her lips as she reached for the money, only for the case to snap shut before she managed to touch the green.

"You don't get anything," The cloaked person stated as they held the case to their side. "Till I see the goods in question."

"Smart," The nereid hissed slightly as she snapped her fingers, which made the water next to her bubble and spurt upwards with a smaller silver case atop of it. The nereid plucked the case and held it up to show the cloaked person its contents. "The customer is always right, and I wouldn't want to lose such a valued customer such as your boss."

The nereid gingerly opened up the case, which allowed for an eerie red light to emerge from the case, "I trust this is what your boss wanted, correct."

"Indeed it is," the green cloaked person replied as she held up the case. "He said you were able to get almost anything, and this is just evidence of that I suppose."

"You know it," the nereid chuckled as both parties of the transaction held up their own cases. "Now, if your boss needs anything else, just be sure to make sure that he…"

Before the nereid could finish, several clouds of smoke erupted from both the water and ground around the two, making them both drop the briefcases to the rocky shore. "WHAT THE?"

That's when a smoke covered blur fell in between the two, and immediately lifted up her arms – Each with a hunting knife held up to both the cloaked person's and the nereid's necks. "Freeze! You're both under arrest for dealings of illegal goods! Anything you say can and will be used in a court against you, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided for you…"

The smoke began to dissipate from the area revealing that the individual with the two knives held up was none other than Taiga, her eyes turning left and right to keep an eye on both of the suspects at once. "Now, how about the two of you slowly walk towards each other before my hands slip, okay?"

The person in the green cloak quickly lifted their hands up into the air, however, the nereid simply snickered. "Oh my, is that you Taiga? My, my, my, I didn't know you were back in town – Did you do something with your hair?"

"Cut the crap Selene," Taiga growled narrowing her eyes down on the nereid. "I don't feel like dealing with your signature crap, especially since I caught you in the act of selling illegal goods again."

"Again?" Selene giggled with a sly smirk on her face. "My dear tiger, in the eyes of the Shadowchasers' courts, I was found to be innocent of those crimes… And I owe it to you as well. The scar you left on my back was enough evidence to prove my innocence…"

"Which is why I'm all the more glad to see that you're still a dumb bitch," Taiga retorted with a smirk in the corner of her lips. "You haven't changed, and you're still doing your transactions during the day… Sure, no one would willingly come to the East River for a swim, but it's still rather stupid.

"And I've got your client in tow as well."

"All good points," Selene sighed loudly with a bored look in her eyes. "But you've forgotten one of the most important points of all."

"And what's that supposed to…" Taiga started…

Only to stop as a large torrent of water smashed into her abdomen and forced her back several feet, dropping her knives to the ground at the same time.

The green cloaked person turned her head to watch, only to have the smaller case tossed into her arms. The cloaked person looked towards Selene who kicked the bigger case into the water behind her, "Consider this an after-sales service, you did purchase something expensive from me, it's the least I can do for you… So I suggest you get out of here."

The cloaked figured nodded back before they dashed away through the remains of the thrown smoke-bombs, all the while Selene smirked as she turned around to see Taiga catching her breath. "Now, as for you little kitten, it seems you forgot that nereids are masters of the water – We can bend it with a simple flick of the wrist. And last time I checked, kittens like you don't seem to like the water…"

"Anyone would hate getting splashed by water from the East River," Taiga spat out some of the water that got in her mouth. "And I'll have you know that I personally bathe myself daily… I'm not some smelly housecat!"

"Perhaps," Selene chuckled as she waved her hand about, calling out more water from the East River to flow around her body. "But that won't matter if you can't take this!"

With a snap of her fingers, Selene threw her hand forward and unleashed several pressurized streams of water through the air towards Taiga. However, the cat-woman Shadowchaser nimbly dipped and dodged left and right several times, allowing the water to fly past her and crash into the ground behind her. Quickly, Taiga closed the gap between her and the nereid and when she was close, she spun around to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick.

As a counter measure, Selene waved her hand to create a small shield of water that intercepted the kick, but due to the powerful force of said kick the water shattered away from the nereid and surprised her. Which allowed Taiga to snapped her tail away from her waist and smacked Selene right in the face. "URK!"

The nereid staggered backwards on the rocky shore, but didn't have enough time to react once Taiga appeared in front of her and slammed an open palm into Selene's abdomen, which sent her further onto the land. Taiga smirked as she lifted her fists up, "And while you maybe strong in the ways of water manipulation, you're still weak in the physical department! And as long as I keep you away from the water, you won't be able to escape!"

Selene sighed loudly as she stood up straight, her eyes narrowed down at the catty Shadowchaser. "Then very well… How about we settle this the old fashioned way, on the dueling field?"

"Since when do you duel?" Taiga questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Since I don't care to have any more scars on my perfect body," Selene sighed as she snapped her fingers, calling forth a large orb of water from the East River. The orb flew in front of Selene, which allowed the nereid to reach into it to pull out a blue duel disk and a dark blue deck case. "Besides, if I can embarrass you in any way I can, I will do so."

"Feh, fine by me," Taiga growled as she lifted up her left arm and activated the pocket duel disk she had strapped to her arm. "Besides, I could use some venting – I've been on the beat all day today, and busting your deal was the only thing that I came across today."

"So, it was just pure luck?" Selene muttered to herself as she slipped the duel disk on her arm.

"Not entirely," Taiga answered back. "I remembered that this is your usual area of business, so I figured I'd see if anyone else decided to claim it – I didn't expect to see you performing a deal in the daylight! That's just a stupid move right there!"

"I prefer thrills in my life," Selene stated as she opened the deck case to reveal a deck of dry duel monster cards. "Besides, my night life doesn't entail business – Now, enough talk talking, more walk walking, and less talking about the walking – Let's… How do duelists say this… Duel?"

"Wow, that was so sad," Taiga muttered with a flat look on her face.

"Give me a break," Selene sighed loudly. "I learned this game a while back, but I don't really care for dueling in my past time – I'd rather spend my free time in the company of…" (SLP: 8000)

"Please, don't," Taiga growled loudly with a roll of her eyes. "I'm already sick to the gills just looking at you, and the East River's smell isn't really helping that either." (TLP: 8000)

"Hmm, killjoy," Selene snickered as both duelists pulled off the top five cards from their decks.

However, Taiga pulled off the sixth card from her deck with a smirk. "I'll be starting us off though – Since you're the one who wanted to challenge me. And I'll start off with this, I'll set a monster in defense mode, and one card face down as well!"

The two set cards appeared in front of Taiga, allowing her to smirk greatly as she looked over the last four cards in her hand, "Next, I'll play Trade In! So, by discarding the level eight Darkstorm Dragon from my hand, I can draw two more cards from my deck!"

Taiga then slipped off two other cards from her deck into her hand and nodded at them, "And with that, my turn is officially over. Hit me with your best shot!"

Selene smirked as she gracefully drew the top card from her deck, "… So, Miss Taiga, tell me, what sort of deck do you expect me to run with?"

"What?" Taiga questioned with her tail coiling up to resemble that of a question mark. "What sort of question are you talking about?"

"Just take a guess," Selene snickered with a smirk on her face.

Taiga crossed her arms and closed her eyes, "I dunno, something with water? Gishiki? The Umi archtype? Maybe some sort of fishing deck?"

"Of course you would say that," Selene sighed as she shook her head. "And I'm willing to bet that people think that you run a cat deck – Right?"

"Hell no!" Taiga snarled loudly as she snapped her arm to the side. "Sure, I'm a cat-woman, but there's no way in hell I'd be caught dead with a cat card in my deck!"

"Then why would you assume that I'd be running something related to water?" Selene sighed as she fingered one of cards in her hand. "It's because we're both Shadowkind, and we both have a relation to some of the creatures in this game and people think that we have a kinship to the decks. No matter what we do, to the eyes of Shadowchasers and other shadowkind, we'll be seen as what we are.

"But enough of talk talking, I'll summon Tankroid in attack mode!"

The rough ground in front of Selene exploded with a cartoonish smoke that allowed a large green army tank to appear on the field with cartoony eyes and hands on its main body. The tank threw its hands to the side and then lifted the barrel of its cannon up into the air (1500/1900).

Taiga eyed the machine and blinked a few times, "Uh, yeah, that's definitely not what I expected. A roid deck… Why?"

"Why not?" Selene stated as she held up two cards from her hand and slipped them into her duel disk, making them appear behind her cartoony tank. "Anyway, I don't trust your set up, so two cards face down and I'll end my turn."

'_Well, that kinda busts my plan,'_ Taiga thought as she drew from the top of her deck. '_I was hoping my face down Masked Dragon would've been destroyed, then I could start to do some flooding… Oh well, I guess that means I'll just have to work with what I've got in my hand.'_

Taiga lifted up one of the five cards in her hand and slapped it onto her duel disk, "I'll start this turn by summoning Dodger Dragon!"

A loud screech echoed through the air as a large, green serpentine dragon flew through the air. Its multiple arms dangled around as it flew through the air with a curved blade at the end of its tail that gleamed in the light (1900/1200). The dragon roared loudly at the sight of Selene. "And if ya think that you can counter my dragon's summon, think again! This card's normal summon can't be negated, and counter traps can't be activated in response!"

"Big deal," Selene sighed with a wave of her hands. "What I've got face down isn't a counter trap."

"Right, I'm pretty sure I know what you've got face down anyway," Taiga sighed as she threw her hand forward. "Dodger Dragon! Attack Tankroid!"

The green, serpentine dragon zoomed over the field, green flames dripped from its mouth as it got closer and closer towards the cartoonish tank.

"Since you can see it coming," Selene stated as she snapped her fingers up, which made one of her two face down cards flip up. "I might as well play my trap card – Supercharge! Since you're attacking a machine-type roid monster, I get to draw two more cards from my deck."

As the nereid pulled off the top two cards from her deck, the Dodger Dragon coiled itself around the Tankroid and unleashed a powerful stream of green fire down on the cartoonish machine until it shattered into millions of pixels. (SLP: 7600)

"And thanks," Selene sighed as the pixels flew slightly as she pulled off a third card from her deck. "When Tankroid's destroyed, I get to draw another card from my deck. Three cards for the price of four hundred life points, seems fair to me."

'_You've got a point there,'_ Taiga thought to herself as looked at the remaining cards in her hand. "I'll just have to end my turn now."

"And that starts mine," Selene chuckled as she drew from the top of her deck, her eyes curving slightly at the seven cards in her hand. "So, you think you can guess what this deck is capable of, right?"

"Save for the Tankroid," Taiga sighed loudly. "You seem to be running a staple Vechiroid deck, heck, I'm expecting to see a few of your fusion monsters soon – We gonna see Jumbo Drill anytime soon?"

"Nope, I don't even have that Drillroid in this deck," Selene stated as she lifted up three cards from her hand. "Oh, I thought about it, but Fusion seems to be rather tedious since you need at least three different cards to pull it off – One of which is a spell card.

"However, I found a way to fix that quite easily – by using the Solidroids!"

Taiga's gaze flattened a little bit with that declaration, "… The what?"

Selene only smirked as she slipped three cards from her hand into her duel disk's graveyard slot, "Better to show you, I discard Strikeroid, Stealthroid, and Turboroid from my hand!"

As the cards disappeared into the graveyard slot, three cartoonish flying vehicles flew through the air. One was a red jet with two landing gear wheels acting as its arms (1600/400), the second was a large white jet that had three rocket boosters on it, and the last one was a cartoon version of a stealth fighter jet (1200/0). All three of the flying vechiroids flew around the air before they lined up with each other and combined into a powerful bright light. "Stronger than before, fired up for more – Fusion summon – Solidroid Alpha!"

As the light died down, a large mechanical warrior stood in front of the smirking nereid, the mechanical warrior had a large bulky body with the Stealthroid acting as the wings on its back, the Turboroid made up its arms and legs and the Strikeroid made up its upper body. As the warrior slammed its fists together, several sparks flew from its joints and danced onto the ground (2600/1800).

Taiga blinked a few times at the sight of the large machine in front of her, "… Okay, that's something I didn't expect."

"Hmm, I know, I didn't expect it to be as flashy," Selene admitted as she rubbed the back of her head. "But I can see the appeal of this game when using duel disks… These things are a bit bulky, but they do make the game all the more interesting."

Taiga's eyes dulled slightly, "… Is this your first time dueling with a duel disk?"

"Seriously, yes," Selene admitted again with a coy smile on her face. "When I got into this game, I was bored with just the table top games that I was forced to endure with some people… So, after a while of dealing with those duelists, I decided to try out a duel disk.

"And lo and behold, this is the result. I gotta say, now I know why guys and girls are so into this children's card game – I wouldn't be surprised if that's why Jalal decided to go with this."

"… You and me both," Taiga muttered under her breath.

"But, alas, we must continue," Selene stated as she snapped her fingers forward. "Solidroid Alpha's effect now activates! Now, once during the turn he was summoned, I can increase its attack by the attack strength of one of your monsters. And since you only have one face up monster, Dodger Dragon's going to help out my monster… Thanks a lot, Dodgy!"

A powerful green aura erupted around the Solidroid's body, allowing a more sparks to erupt from its joints (2600/1800 + 1900/0). "And to return the favor, Alpha! Smash Dodgy!"

The large machine flew over the field and immediately slammed its electrified fist into the serpentine dragon, crashing it into the ground to shatter it into pixels. Taiga staggered slightly back towards the water with her tail pointed straight up. (TLP: 5400)

"Hmm, only my second turn," Selene giggled with a smirk on her face. "And I'm already winning!"

"… After one lucky shot you're boasting?" Taiga stated with a raised eyebrow. "Wow, you really are a rookie. I activate the effect of a monster in my hand!"

Taiga slapped the card onto her duel disk, which allowed a dark aura to appear on the field, the aura began to shift and surge until it formed into a large, purple scaled dragon covered with thorns covering its body (2200/1100). "Meet the Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon!"

This time it was Selene who's eyes dulled slightly when she heard the name, "… The 'what' dragon?"

"I'm not saying its name again," Taiga answered with her brow twitching slightly. "It's got the longest name in all of duel monsters, and I don't feel like saying its name every single time!"

That's true, even the holographic purple dragon nodded in agreement with its duelist's explanation. "In any case, when you destroy a monster on my field and send it to the graveyard, I can summon the monster from my hand automatically. Quite the handy monster, even if it has the worst name imaginable."

Once again, the holographic purple dragon nodded with its master.

"Whatever, doesn't matter to me," Selene replied as she slipped a card into her duel disk as the electrified aura disappeared from the Solidroid (2600/1800). "I'll set one card face down, and end my turn. So my monster's attack goes right back to normal.

"Then, it's my move!" Taiga announced as she pulled off the top card from her deck, and as she turned the card slightly, Taiga's eyes curved slightly. '_Pay dirt! Just what I needed to send her smacking into the ground!'_

The large purple dragon roared loudly before it transformed into a large orb of light, "Now, I'll sacrifice the dragon who's name shall not be spoken – For one that's all the better! Strong Wind Dragon!"

The orb of light shattered like glass, and unleashed the enraged green scale dragon (2400/1000 + 1100/0), with its muscles bulging out from its body. "Now this guy's name is a name that I love to shout to the heavens! And his attack increases by half of the attack of the monster I tribute!

"And each of those attack points is going straight towards your Solidroid!"

The large green scaled dragon roared loudly before it dashed over the field and diced its claws through the large machine's body, which sliced the mechanized monstrosity into ten separate bulky parts that crashed around Selene's body. (SLP: 6600)

However, Selene only yawned loudly at her monster's destruction, "Is that all you can do? I was kinda expecting something a bit more… Flashy and exuberant."

"I just took out that big monster," Taiga growled under her breath with a twitching brow. "And all you can do is stand there and insult me?"

"Well, I'm still technically winning," Selene stated with a smirk on her face. "Besides, you only face the first of several powerful monsters – And I don't even have to use a new card to bring out the next one. So, are you finished with your turn?"

Taiga fanned the last three cards in her hand in front of her, her eyes narrowing down on them. "I'm done."

"Then during your end phase, I can activate this!" Selene announced as one of her two face down cards flipped up, this one revealing a large airship exploding with several mechanical figures flying from it. "Dynamic Explosion! Now, since a level seven or higher Machine-Type monster was destroyed this turn, I can add reveal two level four or lower Machine-Type monsters from my hand. However, I cannot summon or set the monsters until two of my end phases after I activated this card.

"And I need to show you what I'm choosing."

Two cards popped out of Selene's deck and into her hand, which she spun around – Both of which were more machine-type roid monsters, Expressroid (400/1600) and a second Tankroid. "Now, like I said, I can't use them for a few turns. But anyway, it's my turn!"

Selene pulled off the next card from her deck, and smiled as she tossed the card into her hand. "Now then, for the second part of my strategy, I shall now remove all three of the monsters that I used to summon Alpha… In order to summon Solidroid Beta!"

Three shadowed machines flew from Selene's duel disk, immediately combining together to form into a familiar robotic figure, only slimmer. When the shadows pulled away, another tall robotic figured appeared with legs made up from the Turboroid, the arms and upper body made up from the Stealthroid, and a large shield that was essentially the Strikeroid (2500/1900). Sparks flew from the machine as it crashed into the ground in front of Selene, its shield glowed a bright blue.

"Another one?" Taiga stated flatly with her eyes dulled over. "Oh boy, what can this one do?"

"Nothing good for you," Selene stated with a shrug as the shield glowed even brighter. "When summoned, I can destroy one monster on your field… So puff goes the magic dragon!"

"… That was in poor taste," Taiga stated with her tail drooping down.

"Shut up," Selene growled with a blood vessel appearing on the side of her head. "Beta! Destroy that dragon of hers!"

The dragon roared loudly in pain as the light from the shield began to engulf it until finally the dragon vanished in the light. Taiga stuck her tongue out, "Damn it, you stupid fish! Why can't I have my favorite monsters out for more than a turn?"

"Blame fate," Selene chuckled as she held up another card from her hand. "Speaking of fate, you can blame it for this next card – Courtesy of one of my favorite buyers, but anyway – Beta! Attack her defense!"

The shield wielding Solidroid dashed forward, its mechanical fist pulled back.

However, Selene spun the card she hand in her hand and smirked, "And when it attacks, I'll boost Beta with the quick play spell – Aftershock! Which gives the big lug here a trampling effect! So he'll just smash through your defense and right into your life points!"

The metallic fist slammed into the face down monster, revealing the red and silver scaled Masked Dragon (1400/1100), and was promptly crushed into ground. (TLP: 4000)

"Ohohoho!" Selene laughed loudly with a large grin on her face. "I can't remember the last time I managed to have this much fun playing a little kids' game. But seeing your tail twitch like that, oh that's just so hilarious!"

Indeed, Taiga's tail was twitching erratically while her eyes were narrowed down at the nereid in front of her. It was a bad habit that the cat-woman had when she had been brought to the point of almost breaking with her emotions – Happiness: her tail would curl up into a coil.

Sadness: It would droop all the way to the ground.

And anger: Well, it would stand straight up and twitch violently, it was quite comical for someone who could see her tail.

Of course, Taiga was rather ignorant of this sort of thing (It's not like she chased her tail like a dog or something) but at the moment she could care less. "I activate the effect of my Masked Dragon – so I can summon Totem Dragon!"

A small flame popped in front of Taiga, this one unleashed a small lime green scaled dragon with a circular body that had a pair of wings and a very long neck to its large mouthed head (400/200).

"Really? That's what you're going to use against my Solidroid?" Selene sighed as she looked at the last four cards in her hand. "I'll set two cards face down and end my turn."

Taiga remained silent as she looked at the card she drew and the cards in her hand, and slowly, the anger in her eyes and tail began to melt away. "You think that just because you got some giant mechs on your side you've got this in the bag? Lemme tell ya something, Dragons are the baddest of the bad in this game!

"And I've got a deck that's filled with the brim with these terrible beasts, and I'll use each and every one of them if I have to in order to take you down! Thanks to Totem Dragon, it counts as two tributes for a Dragon-Type monster! So time for you to face the fire!"

A large spurt of flames erupted from the ground which completely engulfed the Totem Dragon, however, instead of being burned to death, the Totem Dragon seemed to surge along with the flames. The dragon grew larger and larger until it scattered the flames to reveal a large serpentine dragon in its place, its skin bubbling, molten lava with several stone spikes jutting from its body. The dragon roared loudly, which made the ground shake wildly (2500/2100). "Burning Dragon!"

"I'd point out its attack score," Selene stated with a smirk on her face. "But I'm know that you've got more up your sleeve…"

"Damn straight!" Taiga laughed as she spun around a card in her hand. "I activate the spell card – Riryoku! So, half of your monster's attack goes straight into my dragon's attack!"

Several red sparks flew from the Solidroid's body, making it take a knee as if it were in pain (2500/1900 – 1250/0), all the while, several more jagged spikes erupted from the Burning Dragon's body (2500/2100 + 1250/0). "And now… Burn that machine into nothing!"

The large dragon unleashed a powerful surge of fire that danced through the air and crashed into the weakened machine, melting the metal down into the ground next to Selene's feet. "Ahh!" (SLP: 4100)

"And I'm not done yet!" Taiga announced as she pushed a button on her duel disk. "I play Call of the Haunted! So, I'll be bringing back Strong Wind Dragon!"

The ground in front of Taiga shattered, unleashing the muscular green scaled dragon on her field, its eyes narrowed down at Selene (2400/1000). "And now, I've been waiting for this all day long, direct attack!"

The Strong Wind Dragon drew in a large breath and immediately fired off a powerful twister of air that surged through the air and directly into the nereid's stomach, sending her staggering backwards. (SLP: 1700)

When the attack subsided, Selene lifted her head up and glared at Taiga, who was now smirking greatly with her tail coiling up, "Oh you lousy…"

However, Selene took a deep breath and smirked, "Alright, you've had your fun, are you done yet?"

Taiga slipped a card from her hand into duel disk and then lifted her hand up and waved it about, which made the Burning Dragon yawn loudly with its spikes falling from its body (2500/2100).

And slowly, Selene pulled off the top card from her deck and smirked wildly. "After I draw, I can activate Reckless Greed – So, I can draw two more cards from my deck, all for my next two draw phases."

With that, Selene drew two more cards and that smirk on her face grew even darker, '_Just what I needed…'_

"First little kitty, I'm about to play a card that'll turn this duel around one more time," Selene stated as she slipped one of the freshly drawn cards into her duel disk. "I play Perpetual Motion Machine!"

"… What?" Taiga questioned as a weird machine made up of cogs and levers appeared on the field in front of the Nereid, its motions simply getting faster with each passing second. "What in the world is a Perpetual Motion Machine?"

"Use your brain, pussy cat," Selene stated with a lick of her lips. "The name says that its perpetual, meaning its continuous and that it'll just keep getting faster and faster and faster – It has no real reason to it.

"However, unlike the machine itself, the card is quite handy! I can special summon three machine-type monsters that I removed from play – However, before you start hissing little kitty, there are a number of restrictions.

"One, they're attack strengths cannot exceed two thousand attack points each, they have to have the same level, they can't be tuner monsters, and they lose their effects. But then again, with what I've been doing, that's not really an issue…"

In a flash of light, the Strikeroid (1600/400), Tubroroid (1400/1800) and Stealthroid (1200/0) all appeared in front of the spell card, each of them not moving an inch. However, all three of the Vechiroids began to glow brightly as Selene lifted her hand up into the air. "And now, for the real reason why I brought them out! By removing them from play again, I can summon the baddest of the bad of my Solidroids!"

All three of the machines transformed into bright lights and flew high into the sky. The lights collided with each other and formed into a large figure that crashed into the ground in front Selene. Like the previous two Solidroids, this one was a conglomeration of all three of the machines, however, this one had four jet turbines on its upper body with two of them acting as its arms. The turbines hummed to life and began create twisters of air around the machine (2700/2000). "Solidroid Gamma! And guess what, when he's summoned, all face down cards on the field are destroyed! So, that's one for each of us!"

The twisters of air flew through the air and crashed into both of the set cards on both duelists' field, however, the remains of Selene's set card began to encircle the field, creating another twister. "Of course, the face down card that was destroyed on my field was the trap Wild Tornado! And when destroyed while face down, one face up card is destroyed! So, let's get rid of Call of the Haunted, shall we?"

The tornado crashed into the face up trap on Taiga's field, which shattered both the trap and Strong Wind Dragon.

"And it's not the only card I've got to destroy your field," Selene stated as she spun around another card in her hand. "Smashing Ground! So your big bad dragon goes boom!"

The ground shuddered before several rocky spikes erupted from the earth and stabbed into the Burning Dragon's body, shattering it. Taiga's eyes widened at her clear field and looked up as the turbines on the Solidroid Gamma began to run wild, and with the smirk on Selene's face…

The cat-woman knew exactly what was about to happen…

The powerful twisters from Gamma's turbines flew through the air and crashed into her body, which sent the young, brash Shadowchaser backwards until she fell on her back. "GARRGGH!" (TLP: 1300)

Selene laughed loudly with a smirk on her face, "Oh, that's just a perfect pose of you – Laying down on your back, wounded and down for the count. Kind of reminds me of a certain young man – on his back, taking the sins of his lover and eventually losing his life… Oh the rumors this city whispers…"

Taiga's eyes snapped wide open, her eyes slitting greatly and turning feral.

Meanwhile…

A couple of blocks away, the green cloaked person leaned up against one of the many buildings. Clutched to their chest was the briefcase that they had gotten from Selene a little bit ago. Their breathing was rather labored and they slowly slid down the building's wall with their hood slowly pulled back, "D-Damn… I… I really need to do more running… Too much deskwork…"

The hood fell back to reveal a young woman in her late teens with long green hair that braided into a pair of tails that were resting on her shoulders. She had a pair of large glasses in front of her deep sea-green eyes and despite looking tired, the girl was still pretty cute. The one thing about her was that she had what appeared to be a pair of fins cropping up from the neck of her hood. '_I swear… Lucia's right, I do need to go on jogs with her… I just wasn't expecting a Shadow… Was it trailer? Purser? Chaser? I don't even remember now…_

'_I just wonder if that Nereid woman…'_

It was at that moment that the sky sparked up, illuminating the Queens Borough, and catching the attention of the green haired girl when she looked up towards the sky to find the source of the light. Even though it was cloudy, there wasn't any report of a storm of any sort – But falling from the sky was a large bolt of lightning that continued its descent towards the ground.

The woman's eyes widened when she realized that the lightning bolt had crashed at Hell's Gate. Whatever was happening there was something that could generate some sort of awesome power – But as quickly as it appeared, the energy disappeared. '_What in the world was that?'_

Back at Hell's Gate…

Smoke sizzled from the ground and river around Taiga's field, however, she was completely overshadowed by a large dragonic creature that pulsed with white and blue energy. All the while, Selene was on her back, electrical sparks danced around her body with several duel monster cards scattered about her body and her hair quite frizzled from the electricity.

The large dragon above Taiga roared loudly before it slowly disappeared, which allowed Taiga to slowly walk towards the dazed Selene, a blue crystal tightly clasped in her hand. "… You ever say anything like that to me again, I won't arrest you. I'll freaking kill you, you bitch!

"Got it?"

Selene nodded slowly before Taiga shoved the blue crystal into the Nereid's face and made Selene disappear. Taiga sighed loudly before she dropped down to the ground on her backside, '_… How did she know about…'_

Take a Giant Step! Even if it seems little to you

Because the reverberations (for the new world)

Seem too big for the Future!

For the world to handle!

Undoubtedly a Giant Step, just one centimeter would be enough!

Once again, Taiga sighed loudly when she heard that techno beat song playing on her person. She knew all too well who was calling her, so when the cat-woman lifted the phone up to her ear, she spoke clearly, "You need something Irving?"

"Heh, good to hear from you too, Taiga."

From that jovial voice, Taiga was right.

"Anyway, I need you to get back to the base as soon as possible – We've gotten a good development in our BackDraft Corps case, and we'll need to discuss it with all team members."

Taiga didn't say a word, all she did was clutch her phone tightly and her tail begun to stick up straight, twitching slightly. "… What? When did this happen?"

"Not too long ago actually," Irving answered, not unnerved that Taiga yelled into the phone. "By sheer coincidence, when Hyde was at the Last Chance Bar, a couple of members of the BackDraft Corps came in. And one thing led to another, and we've managed to capture one of their grunts who's got info on their next gig."

Irving couldn't see it over the phone, but the young cat-woman was barring her fangs and clenching her phone so tightly that small cracks appeared in the plastic. "I… See…"

"Anyway, if you're not chasing a criminal," Irving stated. "Then I'd like you to get back here as soon as possible."

"… Sure," Taiga growled under her breath as she pushed the button on her phone, making it turn off and cracking the button in the process. '_DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!'_

TBC

**TTTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Perpetual Motion Machine / Normal Spell / Effect:** Special Summon up to three of your non-Tuner Machine-Type Monsters that have been removed from play whose base ATK does not exceed 2000 apiece and have the same level in face-up Attack Mode. Monsters special summoned with this effect lose their effects. **  
>Image:<strong> A crazy-looking machine without any apparent use.  
><em>This card was used by Crump in Cyber Commander's Yu-Gi-Oh! The Thousand Year Door, that has been modified with his consent.<em>

**Aftershock / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** If a Machine-Type monster attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict Piercing Battle Damage to your opponent. **  
>Image:<strong> A large wrecking ball crashing into a rock wall next to a masked hero  
><em>This card was used by David Rabb in the GX Manga<em>

**Burning Dragon / Fire / LV. 8 / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2100 / Dragon/Effect:** When this card is Special Summoned, destroy all Spell/Trap cards on the field.**  
>Description:<strong> A large dragon made up of burning lava with several spikes erupting from its body.  
><em>This card was used by Chazz Princeton in the GX Manga.<em>

**Tankroid / Earth / LV. 4 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1900 / Machine/Effect:** When this card you control is destroyed and sent to your graveyard, draw 1 card.**  
>Description:<strong> A cartoonish tank with three fingered hands and large cartoonish eyes.

**Solidroid Alpha / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 1800 / Machine/Fusion/Effect:** [Strikeroid + Stealthroid + Turboroid] This card can only be special summoned from your extra deck by discarding the above cards from your hand. (You do not use 'Polymerization'.) You can only have on 'Solidroid' face up on the field at a time. During the turn in which this card was Special Summoned, you can increase the original ATK of this card by the ATK of 1 monster your opponent controls.**  
>Description:<strong> a large mechanical warrior stood in front of the smirking nereid, the mechanical warrior had a large bulky body with the Stealthroid acting as the wings on its back, the Turboroid made up its arms and legs and the Strikeroid made up its upper body

**Solidroid Beta / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 1900 / Machine/Fusion/Effect:** [Strikeroid + Stealthroid + Turboroid] This card can only be special summoned from your extra deck by removing from play the above cards from your Graveyard (you do not use 'Polymerization'). You can only have on 'Solidroid' face up on the field at a time. When this card is Special Summoned, destroy 1 of your opponent's monsters.**  
>Description:<strong> A tall robotic figured appeared with legs made up from the Turboroid, the arms and upper body made up from the Stealthroid, and a large shield that was essentially the Strikeroid

**Solidroid Gamma / Wind / LV. 7 / ATK: 2700 / DEF: 2000 / Machine/Fusion/Effect:** [Strikeroid + Stealthroid + Turboroid] This card can only be special summoned from your extra deck by removing from play the above cards you control (you do not use 'Polymerization'). You can only have on 'Solidroid' face up on the field at a time. When this card is Special Summoned, destroy all face-down cards that your opponent controls.  
><strong>Description:<strong> A large robotic man that had four jet turbines on its upper body with two of them acting as its arms.

**Strikeroid / Wind / LV. 4 / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 400 / Machine/Effect:** When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, you can pay 800 Life Points to return it to your hand.**  
>Description:<strong> was a red jet with two landing gear wheels acting as its arms

**Turboroid / Light / LV. 4 / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1800 / Machine:** A cartoony machine for high speed flying!**  
>Description:<strong> a large white jet that had three rocket boosters on it  
><em>The preceding seven cards were used by SyrusSho in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga._

**Dynamic Explosion / Normal Trap / Effect:** This card can only be activated during the end phase of a turn when a level 7 or higher Machine-type monster on your field is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. You can add two level four or lower Machine-type monsters from your deck to your hand (you cannot summon or set the added monsters until your second end phase after this card was activated).**  
>Image:<strong> a large airship exploding with several mechanical figures flying from it

**TTTTTTTT**

_**A dark mist is slowly but surely wrapping around the city of New York…**_

_**And in the midst of it is none-other than our motley crew of Shadowchasers.**_

_**Next time, our scrounged up crew faces one of their most daunting challenges against the BackDraft Corps yet.**_

_**But, not everything is as it seems…**_

_**Against opponents from the world of Shadowkind, the world of fandom, and the worlds of unknown, will our Shadowchasers be able to overcome this trial?**_

_**Next time on Shadowchasers: Dark City Chronicles:**_

_**Draw 9**_

_**Samsara Kaiser**_

**Kuroi: Uh… I-I-I have to face a-an Emperor of E-Evil!**

**Taiga: Oh ho ho, this looks to be interesting…**


	10. Draw 9: Samsara Kaiser

_Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait everyone, but with dealing with tornadoes and other sorts of disasters (both natural and man-made), I had my hands full. So, I decided to make this chapter extra long with an action packed duel! And if you couldn't guess who was going to appear in this chapter… Last chapter was a hint. That's all I'm saying, so if you wanna know who's appearing, read the chapter doods and doodettes!_

_**I was always a fan of heroes when I was growing up – Seeing them perform depth-defying stunts all in the name of justice and to save all those who knew their names. I would watch their TV shows every afternoon, I'd always pick up their comic books at the local supermarket everyday I could, and I cheered for them whenever I saw their movies (it was rather embarrassing).**_

_**My favorite type of hero however, would have to be the underdog type. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Superman and Batman, but I like the heroes that don't have every power under the sun or a fortune to spend on gadgets and such. I like the everyday heroes, who are ordinary people by day, but transform into heroes at night.**_

_**It kinda reminds me of the Shadowchasers actually. Every day, us Shadowchasers (most of which are mere humans) have to deal with creatures with supernatural strength, prowess, and senses that can instantly take down a regular human. **_

_**Does that scare me?**_

_**Y-Yes it does… S-Some times.**_

_**B-B-But… I can s-s-say that I-I've never had t-t-to deal with S-Shadowkind that were like t-the villains that I-I grew up watching.**_

…

_**W-Well…**_

_**A-After tonight… I-I really can't say that a-a-anymore… **_

_**TTTTTTTTT**_

_**Draw 9**_

_**Samsara Kaiser **_

_**TTTTTT**_

_Time: 2:15 p.m.  
>Location: Shadowchasers' Base – Brooklyn Branch, Living Room<em>

It was a rather calm afternoon at the base (well, not considering everything that happened within the last hour or so), with most of the Shadowchasers in the building at the moment – Hyde was in the kitchen fixing himself a cup of joe (he needed the caffeine after the crap he had to deal with), Kuroi was in the study with a few books, Taiga was on her way back to the base, as for Irving and Hardin…

"Ooooh! Do it again! Do it again!"

"Haha! Very well!" Irving laughed loudly.

Hardin smiled to herself as she looked at Thirteen watch Irving intently. Slowly, Irving lifted his hands up in front of the small child and revealed that his gloved hands had nothing on or in them. Then, as Irving turned his hands around, he snapped his fingers and made two silver dollar coins appear in between his two fingers and thumbs. Then quickly, Irving began to spin the coins in between his fingers until he gripped the coins tight in his hands.

When Thirteen leaned forward at the tightly clenched hands, Irving unfolded his hands to reveal that both silver dollars were gone, and Thirteen's eyes lit up, "WHOOOOOA! HOW'D YA DO THAT?"

Irving laughed loudly as he reached his hands up to Thirteen's ears and placed his gloved hands on them, "Nothing more than a slight of hand and a bit of magic!"

Irving pulled his hands back to reveal the two silver dollars and held them up to the small child, "Although, I have to wonder, why do you have silver in your ears, Thirteen?"

Thirteen blushed slightly as she threw her hands up to her animal-like ears. Once again, Irving laughed loudly as he took one of Thirteen's hands and placed the two silver dollars in her hands, "Don't worry little one, I won't tell anyone about that. Now, you keep your hands on these, okay?"

Thirteen nodded happily as she gripped the two coins, her eyes sparkled just as bright as the two coins, and quickly scurried off into the base.

Hardin smiled to herself as she watched Irving walk towards her, "I guess you've still got your touch."

"Hey, I'm an old man to seven," Irving replied as he crossed his arms. "I'll never lose my touch as a father… Although, Hardin, I have to ask – What are you planning to do with that child?"

With her gaze lowered down, Hardin turned her head away from Irving. In all honesty, she hadn't thought too much about Thirteen's situation when she brought her back from the townhouse – There were so many mysteries about that building, and until Lynne got back to the usually silent Shadowchaser about the owner, those mysteries would remain open.

And as for Thirteen…

Hardin pulled down her hat over her glasses. The child was an innocent product of that incident, and Hardin was still confused why that demonic armor would want that child…

However, Hardin's train of thought was interrupted when she felt a familiar broad hand placed on her shoulder, and she realized that Irving was the owner of that hand. "Don't worry about it now though, she's not a problem, and it's good to have a young soul like that around."

With that, Irving removed his hand and walked towards the kitchen, with Hardin watching the senior Shadowchaser with a small smile on her face.

**TTTTT**

_Time: 2:20 p.m._

Leorina was visibly shaking as she sat on the couch, her eyes wide from the experience she just had when she went out to get something to eat. Somehow, she managed to get out of the hotel without bumping into that monstrous bellboy earlier…

However, when she walked out into the street, Leorina was met with a horrendous scene on the streets of New York – Everywhere she looked, the young pro from California saw more and more monstrous creatures walking amongst the crowds. There were those with feathers, those that were almost like snakes, those that were mountains of muscles that were covered with fur and those that were hard to describe with the vocabulary.

But what was the most frightening was the fact that no one else seemed to notice the monsters in the streets! It was almost as if everyone was accustomed to the monsters, and Leorina was the freak for seeing such weird creatures.

She didn't know how to react to that!

Leorina slowly wrapped her arms around her body, trying to stop herself from shivering. It was a wild experience, one that she would like to not to repeat in the near future.

She had no idea on how to deal with this… Was she going crazy? What was the cause of this? And what…

BEEEP! BEEEP!

Leorina jumped slightly when she heard that sound echo through the room, only to take a deep breath when she realized that it was only her phone making the sound. Gingerly, she reached for the phone and raised it to her ears, "H-Hello?"

"Ah! Miss Childsman! Its good to hear your voice!"

Leorina's eyes widened when she heard that voice, it was almost an echo in her mind the moment the sound reached her ears – It was the man whom she had met nary a night ago – Nathaniel Z. Carine. "C-Carine!"

"Please, please, refer to me as Nathaniel, Miss Childsman. Anyway, according to my voice mail, you recently gave me about… Twenty voice-mails. Was there something you wished to speak to me about?"

"Y-Yeah!" Leorina replied into the phone. While the pro-duelist was definitely pretty, she was also pretty sharp – And it didn't take a genius for her to connect the dots. "Carine! What the hell did you do to me?"

"... Oh? I don't recall doing anything to you – All I did was escort you to your room with the help of the hotel crew. You can verify it if you'd like to…"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Leorina roared into the phone.

"… First… Owwie."

"Can you please be serious about this!" Leorina hissed loudly into the phone.

"I am serious!" Nathaniel hissed back. "Hearing is very important! It deteriorates over time little missy, it doesn't come back! 

"… Anyway, I'm assuming that you're calling me not just to hear my lovely vocals, right?"

"I want some answers, Carine!" Leorina growled back. "Ever since I dueled that robot, I've been sick and I'm seeing hallucinations everywhere!"

"… Those aren't hallucinations," Nathaniel calmly retorted. "What you're seeing is what I promised you Miss Childsman – The truth. The world that was hidden behind the shadows of your dank little world…"

"I just wanted to know what happened to my older brother!" Leorina barked, her eyes starting to well up in the corners of her eyes. "But this is… This is… Its like I'm thrown into a nightmare of sorts!"

"… Miss Childsman," Nathaniel said quietly. "I warned you about what would happen if you accepted my offer – That you would be afraid of what you saw, but I am a man of my word. If you can just survive these horrible visions, then you shall receive your answers on the date that I set.

"If I remember correctly, its only a few more days… Until then, I would suggest that you lay low and recompose yourself."

"B-But I'm a pro-duelist!" Leorina yelped back. "I… I have matches that I need to attend to w-while I'm here and…"

"Then hold onto your courage," Nathaniel interrupted. "These 'nightmares' as you put them will not harm you. Though some of them aren't the prettiest things to look at, but, so long as you hold onto your courage, there shouldn't be an issue. Now, this is the last time you and I shall speak to each other until the pre-set time and day. 

"If you call me, I will not answer."

And with that, the phone went quiet…

Leorina gulped loudly as she dropped the phone to the floor and slowly lowered her head…

**TTTTTTT**

"Good to have you with us, Taiga," Irving chuckled as the cat-woman Shadowchaser casually walked into the living room of the main base.

"Save the pleasantries, ya walkin' talkin' overcoat," Taiga spat back with her tongue stuck out. "I was in the middle of something important, and if this is about the BackDraft Corps, it better be important."

"Oh, it is," Irving stated as he looked around the living room, nodding at Kuroi, Hardin, and Hyde who were in the living room at random locations. "By pure luck though, we managed to arrest a member of the BackDraft Corps and as soon as he was sent to the joint, he spilled his guts about the BackDraft Corps' plans … Or at least what he knew of them.

"Apparently, their big boss is still annoyed with how we busted his D-Wheel Operation, he's trying to make up for his lost income. So, from what this goon stated, he's got a couple of his men aiming to raid a Valvatore Corporation warehouse to get a quick buck."

"Valvatore Corporation?" Hyde questioned raising an eyebrow.

Hyde then realized that all three of the other Shadowchasers were looking at him like he as crazy, "… What?"

"You never heard of the Valvatore Corporation, Mr. Vayne?" Hardin questioned as she pushed up her glasses slightly.

"All I know is that they're a pharmaceutical company," Hyde replied with his arms crossed. "Other than that, I don't know much about them – I haven't gotten sick in years."

"Yeesh, and you say you're from this town," Taiga sighed with a wave of her hand. "What kind of a sap doesn't know about the big shots here?"

Hyde leered at the cat-woman Shadowchaser, his brow furrowed at her while she smirked at his reaction. However, just as Hyde was about to say something, Irving lifted his hand up into the air, "Now, now, there's no need for that – Although, I am surprised that you don't know much about Valvatore Corporation."

"Just drop it," Hyde replied as he turned away from the group. "But I would like to know why a gangster would be interested in pharmaceutical company?"

"Valvatore Corporation is actually quite a big business," Irving answered. "And while they did get their start in medicine, they've branched off into a few other business territories as well. The warehouse in question does hold medical supplies, but it's the sort of stuff that doctors use – Scalpels, syringes, and other sorts of things. To the right person, those supplies could be seen as a goldmine since they could be sold at low prices illegally. For all we know, this could be a plan being implemented by the other leader of the gang."

"Yeah, doesn't seem consistent with the smash and bash tactics that muscle head pulled," Taiga muttered to herself with a roll of her eyes.

"S-So, w-when is this h-happening?" Kuroi questioned, trying to get back on topic. "T-Tonight?"

"The bugbear said that the plan's happening in 'bout two days," Irving stated with a nod. "And to confirm this, I have a couple of connections that work in the warehouse districts and in the freighter shipping business – You meet a lot of different people when you travel as much as I do – Anyway, I'm willing to bet my overcoat that the BackDraft Corps are going to strike the warehouse at night after the shipping is delivered.

"But there is a problem."

"We don't know if the information is correct," Hyde interrupted. "Forgive me if I find this information not as reliable coming from a guy like Otso – Who felt the need to take a swing at me on sight."

"I feel like taking a swing at you every time I see you, but I'm trustworthy," Taiga stated with a large smirk on her face.

"That's not what I meant," Hyde growled loudly. "I'm just saying that we shouldn't put all our cards out on the table on this one chance, this could be a false lead or even worse a trap."

"Good perception," Irving laughed as he waved a finger at Hyde. "Which is why we're going to play this by a different tune. While stopping the plans of the BackDraft Corps are important, if there's another flunky here that we extract more vital information from, then we'll have to play this carefully and have no mistakes."

With his hand held up, Irving immediately snapped his fingers, which immediately made the lights in the living room go off. A few seconds later a small number holographic warehouses appeared floating in mid-air between the five Shadowchasers. "Here's the building in question that's getting the order, as well as the surrounding buildings. My plan is going to go as such, we'll be dividing up into three teams.

"Team A will be covering the eastern and western buildings, acting as back up for the other two teams and will come into the main warehouse in case of any emergencies or such. In addition, they are to alert the other two teams of any suspicious characters are getting closer to the main warehouse. The team will be provided radios to listen to police reports, just in case this is a set up for a different job, we will at least be ready to act on a moment's notice. This team will consist of two of our more experienced members of this group – Taiga and Hyde."

"WHAT?" Taiga snapped loudly. "You're putting me on the sidelines for this!"

"Cool your head, Miss Kitty," Hyde sighed loudly, earning himself a nasty glare from the cat-woman.

"Team B will be stationed right outside the warehouse initially, from the north and south entrances. The team will wait for Team C's signal or if there is any suspicious activity. Members of this team will have to remain hidden throughout this night until something happens. And this team will consist of Kuroi and Hardin, you two happen to be good at stealth.

"And Team C will consist of yours truly, I'll be hiding out in the warehouse itself and be in wait for any action. I'll take them by surprise – mainly because I've been able to take on a number of different kinds of Shadowkind and I'm well-built to take blows. Besides, I'd rather make sure that if you guys don't get hurt if I can help it. Any questions?"

Almost immediately, three hands lifted up into the air at the same time, which surprised Hyde at that. Irving on the other hand just laughed and pointed his own hand, "Hardin, your question."

"Are you sure this is a good idea? You're kinda taking a big risk here by going in there alone…"

"Next question, Kuroi!"

"C-Can I be on Team A?"

"Final question! Taiga!"

"Seriously! Why am I on the sidelines!"

"Because you're still being monitored because of your probation," Irving answered clearly with his voice completely serious. "Now, I realize that this plan has some flaws in it, such as me going in by myself – But I'm a seasoned Shadowchaser, and I would like to try to do this without any bloodshed… If that's possible.

"In any case, we've got two days to prep ourselves, and I don't wanna see any screw ups with this – Deal?"

"Deal!"

**TTT- Two Days Later…-TTT**

_Time: 9:32 p.m.  
>Location: Manhattan Bay Warehouses, Valvatore Supply Warehouse<em>

The night was young and cold on the waterfront, but it was still lively, with a number of workers finishing up with the unloading of many large crates and boxes that were marked with the Valvatore Corporation's logo slapped onto the sides of all of them. It wasn't long till all of the workers had finished up the last of the unloading, and the lights inside the warehouse clicked off and the doors were locked up tight.

As the cars and trucks at the warehouses began to drive off, near one of the larger crates outside, a familiar black haired, short young man popped his head from behind the crate and looked around. With a sigh of relief, Kuroi slumped back against the wall he was near and slowly dropped to the ground. '_And h-h-here we are a-a-again… H-Hopefully this time I-I won't need to g-g-go to the h-hospital.'_

"Kuroi, come in Kuroi!"

Kuroi lifted his hand up to his ear and nodded, "K-Kuroi here… In position."

"Good, I just checked in with everyone else, we're all in position – Now, since you've got the front of the building, you're going to be our eyes on the main entrance. Are you up for this?"

"Y-Yes," Kuroi answered back into his ear piece. "I… I'm ready."

"Good, keep communication at a minimum. So unless there's an emergency or you see someone suspicious approaching the warehouse, do not use the ear piece. We've spent the last few days training for this, and we might be able to get a big scoop concerning the BackDraft Corps…"

"T-Training?" Kuroi questioned with a raised eyebrow. "W-We were essentially p-playing Metal Gear Solid for two days straight…"

"Cutting the comlink for now, black sheep."

And with that, the line went dead, which made Kuroi sigh to himself.

It was times like these that made Kuroi question why he was even in the Shadowchasers to begin with. He was always in the danger zone whenever there was a mission, and unlike Taiga or Hardin, Kuroi wasn't intimidating or strong – Which was sad since he was actually older than Hardin (even sadder that she was taller than him too).

But, Kuroi didn't regret his choice to enter this law enforcement organization – He was grateful for Irving and Jalal for helping Kuroi out when he was just starting out those many years ago. Sure, Kuroi got a few bruises, burns, and broken bones every once in a while, but he considered himself indebted to the exuberant Shadowchaser and Mr. Stormbringer for everything they did for Kuroi.

Still, sitting alone near the docks on a lonely night in New York City…

Not something that Kuroi expected when he was a teenager.

Minutes passed, and the night began to grow colder, which made Kuroi shiver slightly – which when combined with the boredom that was boring into his head…

"_**Exardescet et adolebit eam  
>cum ab angulo ad angulum infernus<br>non relinquat una vestigium  
>adolebit usque eorum animas<strong>_

_**Exardescet et adolebit eam**_  
><em><strong>respondere meas nunc<strong>_  
><em><strong>adolebit eos, stulti cum<strong>_  
><em><strong>purpurea flamma<strong>__**…"**_

Kuroi blinked a few times as he heard a beautiful voice echo through the air, garnering his attention as he looked towards the source of the voice. However, he didn't know what to expect, but when he saw the source of the beautiful voice walk underneath the nearby lights, his eyes widened.

Walking near the warehouses was a stunning young woman with long strawberry red hair that cascaded down past her shoulders and looked like it went down to the small over her back. She had a slim and tall figure and showed it off with a white cocktail dress with fancy black gloves that went up to her biceps. Even from a distance, Kuroi could see the thorn and rose covered tattoo that ran from the woman's neck to her left shoulder, disappearing into that beautiful cocktail dress.

As she continued to sing and walk, her steps clicked, adding to the effect of her song.

"_**Exardescet et adolebit eam  
>cum ab angulo ad angulum infernus<br>non relinquat una vestigium  
>adolebit usque eorum animas<strong>_

_**Look. ..!**_  
><em><strong>Propter terribilem vindictam meam, ego proiectus maledictio omni potestate mea!<strong>_  
><em><strong>Ego vocare te a distant terra Egressus!<strong>__**"**_

Kuroi couldn't help but gulp as he watched the woman fade into the darkness, with the song and the way she moved and the sad look on her face, it was almost as if she were a phantom…

'_Wait a second…'_ Kuroi thought to himself as a small bead of sweat appeared on the side of his head. '_I know that goblins, dragons, and other fantasy stuff exists, but does that mean that ghosts exist as well? I… I never really asked I-Irving or J-Jalal about that. I-I mean, I've r-read reports of how s-some wizards w-were able to t-t-transfer souls and s-s-stuff to inanimate objects…_

'_But ghosts… T-They were never r-r-really brought up in training… D-D-Did I j-j-j-just s-see a p-phantom?'_

While Kuroi was sweating over the fact that he just saw a damned soul walking amongst the living, he failed to notice that a single light began to come closer to the building, but the sounds of an engine coming closer certainly garnered his attention. Putting his fear to the side, Kuroi looked towards the light as it came to rest underneath the illumination by the warehouses' lights.

Parked in front of the warehouses was but a single motorcycle (it could've been a D-Wheel, but Kuroi couldn't tell if it was one or not) with a single rider on it. The motorcycle itself seemed to be a modified Honda CBR1000F – which was an older model that was made between the 1980's to the late 1990's – with a blue chassis with several yellow lines marked on it that resembled wings.

Kuroi didn't know much about motorcycles (except for his D-Wheel), so he was unaware that the Honda CBR1000F – The Hurricane was a discontinued model and was considered a collector's item by motorcycle enthusiasts now-a-days since there are so few left. That meant whoever owned this sport touring motorcycle either had a lot of cash or owned the motorcycle while it was still in production.

But Kuroi didn't know that fact, but he saw the rider… And what he was wearing.

The rider was definitely male (his figure gave that away) and was dressed in what seemed to be a bulky blue suit that had several scuffs and cuts in it, it looked like it had seen better days. As the man dismounted from his motorcycle, Kuroi noticed that a long white scarf billowed down from the man's neck, ending with a colorful scheme on its ends (too bad that was ragged as well).

However, what really caught Kuroi's eyes was when the man took off his helmet he saw the fiery red hair spill out from the protective head piece and the tattoos on the man's face that seemed to shape into a bird of some kind – And the tattoos seemed to be glowing a dark purple!

Slowly, the man approached the warehouse where Kuroi was stationed near and slowly lifted up a gloved hand towards the doors of the warehouse, '_H-He's going through the front doors?'_

The man lowered his hand towards the lock on the doors to the warehouse that the workers had put on it. It was a more sophisticated lock, one that was mechanical and opened only with a key card. The man tapped on the device a few times before he pulled his hand back and…

WHAM!

Kuroi's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he watched the man punch his fist through – not into –THROUGH the lock!

"Kuroi! What was that sound?"

The young Shadowchaser didn't answer, he didn't want to get noticed by the strange man who began to pull his arm to the side, which opened the door fluidly along with his movement. The bright glow from the warehouses' lights began to pour into the warehouse around the man's form. After the man pulled his arm free from the steel door, he slowly began to enter the warehouse, as if he had just opened the door by simply unlocking it!

As soon as the man entered, Kuroi brought his hand up to his ear and softly spoke, "I-Irving! I… I just s-saw someone enter the b-b-building!"

"I just got a visual on the guy… But what was that noise?"

"Um… It was h-him," Kuroi answered with a gulp. "H-He punched through the l-lock!"

While Kuroi was explaining the situation to Irving, he was unaware that a dull red light gleamed a few yards away from him…

"… I see… Kuroi, have you seen anyone else?"

"W-Well… There w-was a woman," Kuroi answered to himself. "B-But, she s-seemed to be just w-w-wandering around, s-s-singing…"

"Hmm, Kuroi, I'm going to contact the others and watch this guy. If you see anyone else, be sure to contact me immediately."

"R-Roger," Kuroi stated as the communications cut off once more.

It was then that Kuroi noticed something – The sky had grown even darker, and had several dark storm clouds that had lightning snaking through it and thunder booming through the air. It was odd, he saw the weather report, it was supposed to be a clear night and…

"_**Exardescet et adolebit eam  
>respondere meas nunc<br>adolebit eos, stulti cum  
>purpurea flamma<strong>__**…"**_

It was at that moment that a powerful bolt of red electrical energy fell from the sky and crashed into the ground several yards away from where Kuroi was. The light was bright enough to make Kuroi yelp out and cover his eyes, unaware that a large amount of smoke began to encircle where the lightning had struck. The smoke began to form into a very tall and lean figure with a serpent-like creature gripped in its hand.

Slowly, Kuroi opened his eyes and saw the smoke wisp more and more into the figure that immediately caught Kuroi's attention. Blood-red skin that dripped with blood appeared on the figure's masculine body and was immediately covered with a silver skeletal armor that gleamed in what little light there was. The skeletal armor connected to the top of the bloodied skinned man, his encircling his crown and face to form a very daunting mask with a grilled mouth and a visor-like eyepiece that glowed a dull red. A single horn erupted from the crown of this demonic man's crown that had a 'Z' adorned at the top of it. The serpent in the man's hand grew into what appeared to be a daunting boa constrictor that had its tail wrapped around the man's arms.

The muscle exposed man looked around the area and took a step forward with a loud clank, "Hmm, what a strange world – Polluted air, countless lives, the sense of evil in the air – Yes, this seems to be a good start for me to assemble my conquest."

With a pull, the muscle exposed man pulled on the boa constrictor, which instantly uncoiled itself and became metallic, shifting until it turned into a silver staff that was topped with a sharp 'Z'. "With the evil in this city, and the power at my disposal, it'll only be a matter of time till this world will be within my hands!"

Kuroi's jaw dropped when he heard this disturbed man's declaration of world domination, but he didn't need to hear the man's voice to automatically know who this vile fiend was – But, there was no way this character should've existed, he was a fictional character!

But with what the mysterious man's power, the boa constrictor transforming into a staff, and the dark red energy that surged from his body – It was true. Kuroi threw his hand up to his ear and spoke into the headpiece, "I-Irving! C-Come in!"

Nothing.

"T-Taiga! Hardin! H-H-Hyde?"

However, all Kuroi got back as a response was static. '_It's… It's jammed… O-Oh man… W-W-What am I g-g-g-gonna do?'_

Slowly, the muscle exposed man began to walk away, his staff clanked against the ground with each step he took. Kuroi didn't have much of a choice – So, he took a deep breath and reached for his boots, which he immediately pulled out a pair of combat knives and he quietly snuck out from behind the crate.

Then with a boost of speed, the small Shadowchaser dashed towards the evil man and leapt up into the air towards the target…

"So, you finally decided to make a move!" The man cackled loudly as he spun around with his staff raised up, and intercepted the two knives.

Sparks flew between both Kuroi and the demonic man, but immediately turned into currents of electrical energy that surged from the staff and into Kuroi's body. "ARGH!"

With a simple push, the demonic man pushed Kuroi back and sent him to the ground with electricity surging around Kuroi's body. The evil man cackled as he slammed his staff into the ground, "I applaud you for your courage, even if it was a fool's errand. Do you not know who I am, you pathetic snot-nosed brat?"

Even though his body was racked with electrical discharge, Kuroi sat up to leer directly into the visor that glowed a bright red. "Y-Yeah… I think I g-g-got an idea… The E-Emperor of E-Evil, L-Lord Zedd."

The muscle exposed man leered at Kuroi before he threw his head back and laughed loudly, "If you knew that, then you're either very brave or very incompetent! To challenge a being of my power with a pair of knives – That is rich!"

'_I think it's safe to assume this isn't a suit actor,'_ Kuroi thought to himself as he got back to his feet and pushed his glasses up. '_And if that's the case… I might just be in trouble…'_

"If you know who I am," Lord Zedd cackled to himself as he pointed his staff toward Kuroi once more. "Then you know exactly what I am capable of – I've conquered hundreds of galaxies! Killed tens upon thousands! Sent fears down the spines of all who have heard my name!"

'_At least before a bunch of housewives complained about how too evil you were,'_ Kuroi thought as he lifted his knives up defensively.

"Even now I can see your legs trembling at my mere presence," Lord Zedd laughed as he gestured towards the shaking knees of the token playing Shadowchaser. "Since I've been granted the chance to obtain a new world, I may just spare your life small one if you beg for it!"

"I… I… Won't!" Kuroi shouted back. "I-I don't care if y-you're the Emperor of E-Evil, or the Emperor with no c-c-clothes, with what you've g-g-got in mind, and with t-that power…"

Kuroi had to take a deep breath and stood up straight – While it was true that his legs shook, it wasn't from fear, it was from the attack that Kuroi just took from the master of evil. "I… I have to stand in your… No, I need to stop you!"

"A nice bravado, little one," Lord Zedd admitted as he lifted his staff up into the air, the emblem on it cackled with electricity. "But those are only pretty words unless you can back them up – So, unless you're going to summon a mechanized beast to come to your aid, I doubt that you'd ever have the strength to fend me off. So, be gone you annoying gnat!"

Once more, the Emperor of Evil pointed his staff towards Kuroi, with a bolt of red electrical discharge flung at the small Shadowchaser. However, Kuroi saw it coming and leapt to the side, just narrowly missing the powerful attack thrown at him. And as Kuroi flew through the air, he spun slightly to throw one of the knives towards Lord Zedd.

However, with a simple flick of his wrist, the Emperor of Evil turned the staff and blocked the knife from hitting him. "Oh ho! Your age tells lies little one, I can see that you've been trained – Tell me, how long will that training keep you alive?"

Once more, Lord Zedd lifted up the staff, prepared to unleash another attack – However, nothing happened. The Emperor of Evil threw his staff forward again, hoping for an attack to appear, but still nothing. "What is this foolishness?"

It didn't take Kuroi a second look, but he leapt towards Lord Zedd with his remaining knife and lunged for an attack. However, Lord Zedd lifted his staff up and intercepted the attack once more which surprised Kuroi once more, "I applaud you again for attacking in a moment of weakness, but I do not rely solely on my dark energy powers – I have physical prowess as well!"

With a spin of his staff and body, Lord Zedd slammed his foot into Kuroi's stomach, once again sending Kuroi to the ground with a loud groan. "Your tenacity is admirable though… But it would seem that my transfer into this world has affected my powers. Still, this shouldn't be an issue once I have had a chance to regain myself."

'_O-Okay, this isn't g-g-good,'_ Kuroi thought to himself as he held his chest. '_If… If he g-g-gets away, then w-we're g-g-gonna have some b-big problems… I... I'm g-going to have to d-d-do something…'_

"L-Lord Edd!"

"Zedd!" The emperor of evil snarled as he slammed his staff into the ground. "You knew of my name before, so don't try to pull a stupid joke like that!"

But Kuroi didn't stand down, and took a deep breath, "I-Indeed! I do know your name, and w-what you can do. B-But, I… I want to m-make a wager!"

"And what could you possibly have that would entice me to accept a wager?" Lord Zedd questioned back with a loud snicker.

"I… I have a-a-access to a n-number of magical a-artifacts and impressive technology," Kuroi answered back. "E-Even if they d-don't give you what you n-need, they c-can at least b-be able to make y-your conquest e-easier…"

The Emperor of Evil didn't say anything, rather he brought up one of his claw adorned fingers and rubbed it against the metallic chin of his mask, "And what sort of wager did you have in mind for us? It should be obvious that you cannot best me in combat."

"P-Perhaps," Kuroi admitted as he crossed his arms. "B-But, I know of another b-b-battlefield – One of w-w-wits!"

"… Very well," Lord Zedd replied as he held his hand out. "Learning how this planet settles matters will give me insight on how to deal with the inhabitants of this world as well… So, name your challenge."

'_I have no clue if this is going to work,'_ Kuroi thought to himself as he lifted his left arm up to reveal his duel disk covered arm. "I… I challenge you t-t-to a game of D-Duel Monsters!"

'… _This guy was made and defeated before Duel Monsters was even created… The chances of this working are slim to…'_

"Very well, I shall except your challenge to a duel," Lord Zedd laughed loudly as he slammed his staff into the ground with a loud clank.

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?" Kuroi questioned to himself.

"Did I stutter?" Lord Zedd retorted. "I accept your terms! Now prepare yourself little man."

Lord Zedd slammed his staff into the ground, which caused a number of ghostly duel monster cards to appear in front of him. "It would appear that I have knowledge of this game of yours – How interesting that there would be gods and demons within this game for people to command so simply. Imagine the powers these cards would grant me if I had all of my strength!"

Kuroi gulped as he reached for his deck – If he remembered correctly about Lord Zedd and if he lost, then things would be a whole lot worse…

With a wave of his free hand, a large number of the cards flashed brightly before they along with the other cards disappeared. It was then that five large cards appeared in front of Lord Zedd along with a ghostly life point counter that appeared over his head. "I do not require such a ridiculous contraption as a duel disk to fight in this game." (ZLP: 8000)

'_Oh boy… That's not good at all,'_ Kuroi thought to himself with a loud gulp as he fitted the cards into his duel disk, instantly activating the device at the same time. "L-Let's duel!" (KLP: 8000)

"Spare me the theatrics!" Lord Zedd announced as he slammed the staff into the ground, allowing a sixth card appear in front of him.

'_I-I'm not the o-one to summon his c-c-cards…'_ Kuroi thought to himself as he looked at the cards in his hand.

"This shall be a simple start," Lord Zedd announced as he pointed towards one of the cards in front of him, and immediately the card fell to the pavement horizontally. "A single set monster, and a single set back card. Try to keep up with my brilliant plan, little one. Turn end!"

Kuroi blinked a a few times as he watched the Emperor of Evil's field fill slightly. '_I-I wasn't expecting s-s-something big r-r-right off the b-b-back, but… I did e-expect a monster in a-attack mode at the very least. Heck, I'm p-partially expecting A-Archfiends from h-him…'_

With a shake of his head, Kuroi looked at the cards in his hand and nodded, "I… I summon Sir Rams-Borg in a-attack mode!"

In a small flame, the red armored knight appeared on the field, struggling to carry up the broadsword with his small arms (1000/500).

"That puny little thing suits you well!" Lord Zedd cackled out loud.

"N-Next," Kuroi continued, ignoring Lord Zedd's comment as he led up a single card from his hand. "I play D-Dark W-World Dealings! N-Now, both of u-us d-d-draw one card and d-d-discard a card from o-our hands!"

Lord Zedd said nothing as a fifth card appeared in front of him and while Kuroi plucked another card from his deck. It didn't take long for Kuroi to select a card and slip into his graveyard slot – Lord Zedd simply pointed towards one of the cards and it disappeared in a flash. "A-And the card I d-d-discarded was Dandylion! So, t-t-two fluff tokens appear on m-my side of the field!"

Two clouds of smoke popped on Kuroi's field, which immediately formed into two small cartoony dandelion seeds that had faces on them (0/0 x2). Sir Rams-Borg smiled brightly at the sight of the two tokens as his body began to mature and fill into the armor (1000/500 + 1000/0). "A-And for e-e-each t-token on t-the field, Sir Rams-Borg gains f-f-f-five hundred attack points for each token on the field!

"Sir R-Rams-Borg! Strike down his defense monster!"

The red armored knight leapt through the air and brought down his sword onto the face down card, cleaving the card in two to reveal a small, orange furred creature with three eyes and small arms (1000/600). The creature squeaked loudly before it shattered into millions of pixels.

However, Lord Zedd only laughed louder as another card emerged in front of him, "Thank you little one! That was known as Sangan, now a monster with fifteen hundred or less attack comes to my hand – And I suppose I need to show you, so here little one."

The card turned around to reveal a monster that had a small knight-like monster with stars around it, a pair of ram horns on its helmet, and a fancy, fantastical gun. Kuroi looked up to see the name of the card, but before he could get a good look at the card, Lord Zedd slammed his staff into the ground and made the card spin about face. "As you saw, it had less than the required amount of attack points to be added to my hand…"

'_I-I forgot to check,'_ Kuroi thought to himself as a large bead of sweat appeared on the side of his head.

"Now, unless you have anything else you'd like to do to help me," Lord Zedd cackled loudly. "End your futile turn."

Kuroi raised an eyebrow before he lifted up a pair of cards from his hand and slipped them into his duel disk. "T-Two cards set and…"

"Your turn is over," Lord Zedd interrupted as a sixth card materialized in front of him. The Emperor of Evil's visor lit up for a second at the sight of the card. "Oh, this is just perfect – The one that will really start my conquest, first over you, then this city… And then this world!"

The card spun around to reveal a spell card that glowed brightly, "Terraforming! Now, one field spell card will be added to my hand."

The Terraforming spell dematerialized and in its place was another spell card who's picture was completely black. Kuroi lifted up his duel disk as the spell card melted into the ground at Lord Zedd's feet and began to infect the warehouse area. "And now, welcome to my domain! The field spell card – Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon!"

Everything around the two duelists turned dark – However, it didn't remain dark as the ground began to transform into a large rocky plane that had a large amount of craters and rocks around the two. The ground shook and behind Lord Zedd rose a large, mystical fortress that glowed with a dark light with many weird constellations around the fortress – Each of which seemed to depict several nefarious creatures.

Kuroi took a step back at the sight of the large fortress in front of him – He didn't know what to expect from the Emperor of Evil, but even this was out of the ballpark. "W-What does t-this do?"

"Why say it, when I can show it?" Lord Zedd retorted as the set card on his field began to lift up. "I activate the trap card I placed last turn – Limit Reverse! Now, the monster you made me discard last turn is automatically summoned to my field.

"Reveal yourself!"

The ground erupted with several blue claws popping out from it, then with several rocks being propelled into the air, a large knight covered with white armor (that had a blue sheen to it) landed on the ground in front of Lord Zedd. As the knight stood up, it was revealed that the knight had a mane of blue glowing fur pouring from out of its helmet and at its finger tips were several glowing claws (1000/1800). "I believe you foolish humans refer to this creature as the Sacred Leonis."

"S-Sacred?" Kuroi questioned with several question marks appearing over his head. He was expecting Archfiends, Dark World Fiends, maybe even the Fabled from the Emperor of Evil – But Kuroi wasn't expecting creatures that were supposed to be fighting on the side of good.

However, that's when Kuroi noticed something about the Sacred Leonis – Its white armor had a large black stain right where the sun crest was. And the stain was getting bigger and covering all of the Sacred monster's armor. The monster struggled with trying to get the stain off of its armor, but every time it tried to remove it, the stain only grew on its armor, turning it pitch black. Immediately, the darkness completely engulfed the Sacred monster until its colors inverted and it roared loudly in pain.

"Of course, having a monster of the light is a blemish to me," Lord Zedd spat with his arms crossed. "But that's why my Fortress turns all monsters that are Light attribute into creatures of the darkness – Truly, it is a marvelous thing! If you missed what I did, then I shall show you once more what I am capable of! I summon Sacred Sheratan!"

A burst of light emerged next to the corrupted Leonis, which transformed into another knight-like monster – Only this one was sleeker, had horns on its helmet that resembled that of a ram's, and it held onto a gun that was also adorned with ram-like horns (700/1900). Sheratan turned towards it corrupted ally and immediately rushed over to aid it… However, the moment that Sheratan placed his hand on Leonis' shoulder, the darkness bleed off of the lion like Sacred monster and onto Sheratan's hands!

At first, the ram-based Sacred monster tried to pull the darkness off – But that only succeeded in spreading it faster on his armor until finally his armor was completely dark. Lord Zedd threw his head back and laughed loudly, "YES! Corruption! HAHAHAHAHA! To see it spread so quickly is a marvelous thing, wouldn't you say?"

"Um… W-Whatever f-f-floats your b-b-boat I guess," Kuroi muttered to himself. "B-But, is there a point to t-turning their attributes into dark?"

"There is," Lord Zedd stated as he slammed his staff into the ground, making another card appear before him. "But telling you what that is right now is useless, therefore we shall continue onwards – Esepcailly with Sheratan's effect. When this monster is successfully normal summoned, another Sacred monster is added to my hand. But, it's not staying there long, thanks to Leonis I am granted an additional Normal Summon this turn.

"So reveal yourself and become corrupted – Sacred Pollux!"

In another flash of light, a third warrior in white armor appeared – A tall and sleek warrior with a dual bladed saber in his hands that he spun around (1700/600). However, when the warrior looked towards his corrupted allies, he saw that both of them were gaining closer and closer towards him. Before the warrior of light could react, both of the monsters slammed their hands onto Pollux's chest armor. And just like that, the darkness completely covered Pollux, corrupting him as well.

"Now then, I think that's enough summoning for now," Lord Zedd as he pointed towards one of the cards and made spin around. "Right now, I'll play a spell card known as Eclipsed Power!"

The spell card depicted a blocked out sun that had several diabolic creatures surging with energy underneath it, "This card can only be activated while there is a Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon on my field. But once again, I don't feel the need to tell you what this card is capable of as of yet, so, we'll get to that later – Now, let's start by weakening your warrior's strength! Sheratan! Leonis! Destroy the two tokens!"

Both of the corrupted Sacred monsters leapt through the air and immediately brought their weapons down on the two Fluff Tokens, immediately destroying them and surprising Sir Rams-Borg (2000/500 – 1000/0), even more so that his armor no long fitted him perfectly as his body shrunk down. Lord Zedd pointed his staff towards the weakened Sir Rams-Borg, "Now, Pollux! Eliminate that pathetic little knight!"

The contaminated Sacred dashed across the field, prepared to slice the tiny knight in two…

"I… I activate S-S-Scapegoat!" Kuroi announced as one of his two face down cards flipped up to unleash the four colorful sheep tokens that seemed to all be asleep (0/0 x4). "S-So I h-have four t-t-tokens to m-my name! And Sir Rams-Borg's back up to s-strength!"

Indeed, with a mighty battle cry, the small knight began to mature until his armor was completely filled out with muscles, his black hair became longer and he was able to hold up the sword quite easily (1000/500 + 2000/0).

The corrupted Pollux stopped moving, skidding to a halt before he and Sir Rams-Borg clashed swords, Lord Zedd chuckled loudly as he wagged one of his clawed fingers at Kuroi. "Impressive, but it's not enough - With the rite of recall I can halt my attack. It was a good effort though."

The last two cards in front of Lord Zedd fell to the ground, completely clearing his hand, "Consider it a gift from me… But, you should be careful about looking this gift horse in the mouth…"

Kuroi took a deep breath before he shakily drew the top card from his deck, as he turned the card around, Kuroi's eyes brightened, '_W-Well, at the very least, I-I can get at least get a head start on b-b-beating him. He e-e-exhausted all of his r-resources.'_

Without a moment's hesitation, Kuroi slipped the card he drew into his duel disk, "I… I play H-Heavy Storm! N-Now all s-spell and t-t-trap cards…"

"Will stay where they are!" Lord Zedd laughed loudly as one of his face down cards lifted up, and a ghostly vampire flew out of the card. "My trap card – Magic Drain will make sure of that! So, unless you have another spell card in your hand to discard…"

Kuroi's eyes widened. Unfortunately, the other three cards in his hand weren't spell cards! So he couldn't negate the effect, and slowly, Kuroi bit his lower lip.

"From the look of your face," Lord Zedd chuckled as the spell card on Kuroi's field shattered like glass. "You don't have another spell card, what a shame. And that was supposedly a powerful card, correct? Too bad. Now continue your pointless struggling!"

Pushing up his glasses, Kuroi looked at the remaining cards in his hand and looked at them – One monster and two trap cards – He also had his face down card to help him…

"If you're going to just stand around with a blank look on your face," Lord Zedd announced as he tapped his metal covered foot on the ground a few times. "The I should consider this my own personal victory!"

"N-No!" Kuroi yelped as he threw his hand forward. "Sir Rams-Borg! A-Attack Leonis!"

The red armored knight roared loudly before he brought down his sword onto the corrupted beastly Sacred monster, cleaving the monster in two! For a moment the two pieces just remained standing until they shattered backwards and past Lord Zedd's shoulders. (ZLP: 6000)

But that's when something odd happened, both of the remaining corrupted Sacred monsters snarled loudly at the sight of their lost comrade, and a dark aura slowly seeped from their armor's joints (700/1900 + 200/200) (1700/600 + 200/200). Kuroi blinked a few times, "Uh… W-What just happened?"

"Did you forget my two cards already?" Lord Zedd cackled loudly as he lifted his hands up. "You see, my two spell cards have multiple effects, the Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon gains an 'Eclipse Counter' each time a corrupted monster is sent to the graveyard. However, thanks to Eclipsed Power, another counter is placed on it and for each Eclipsed Counter on the field, all dark monsters on my field gain one hundred extra attack and defense points.

"So thank you so much, you just keep making this easier! Whahahaha!"

Kuroi lowered his head slightly before he looked to the three cards in his hand and nodded, "O-One card set, turn end!"

"Not yet!" Lord Zedd announced as his other face down card lifted up. "I activate my trap card at this moment – Light's Blight. When a Dark monster that was originally a Light monster is destroyed in battle, I'm granted two more cards. So my onslaught will not be stopped so easily…"

Two more cards appeared in front of the Emperor of Evil, only to have a third card materialize in front of him, "Now then, let's continue this onslaught of corruption, shall we? This turn I'll start off by sacrificing Sheratan, I am allowed to call out the Sacred Antares!"

Sheratan cackled before the corrupted Sacred monster disappeared from the field, and in its place was another white armored knight, this one a sleeker robotic knight with long limbs and a flexible spear that was topped with a red laser on it (2400/900).

"Now, since I rid the field of another corrupted Light monster," Lord Zedd cackled as the darkness began to overtake Antares, making the aura around it and Pollux grow stronger (1900/800 + 200/200) (2400/900 + 400/400). "My corrupted Light monsters become stronger! And now, there's Antares' effect, so the Sacred Sheratan returns to my hand."

The card materialized right back in front of Lord Zedd, allowing the disgusting villain to cackle to himself, "Now then, time for some carnage! Pollux! Destroy one of the tokens!"

The corrupted knight dashed across the field and sliced through one of the Sheep Tokens on the field, making Sir Rams-Borg stagger backwards (3000/500 – 500/0).

"And now that your knight is weak enough," Lord Zedd chuckled loudly as he pointed his staff towards Sir Rams-Borg. "It's time for his execution!"

Antares lifted up its flexible staff and whipped it forwards, making it fly towards Sir Rams-Borg – However the Knight held out his free hand and one of the sheep tokens flew into it, transforming it into a cute little shield that took the assault instead of Sir Rams-Borg (2500/500 – 500/0). Lord Zedd's visor lit up brightly, "What is this?"

"Um, its S-S-Sir Rams-Borg's effect," Kuroi explained with his hand held up defensively. "A-As long as t-there's a t-t-token on the field, he c-can't be attacked…"

Lord Zedd remained quiet as he pointed his staff towards one of the remaining three cards in his hand onto the field and shimmered slightly. "That is all for this turn."

"I… I activate my t-trap!" Kuroi announced as one of his face down cards flipped up. "O-Ojama Trio!"

Three clouds of smoke popped onto the field next to the two corrupted Sacred monsters, all of them bouncing around greatly (0/1000 x3). However…

"Fool!" Lord Zedd laughed loudly as a dark aura began to creep over the three Ojamas, making them scream out in pain (0/1000 + 400/400 x3). "These silly beings are creatures of the light, so my field and spell affect them!"

"Y-yeah?" Kuroi snapped back as Sir Rams-Borg smirked with a bright glint gleaming from his mouth (2000/500 + 1500/0). "Well s-since there are three more t-tokens, my knight becomes s-stronger!"

"I'd say I'm impressed," Lord Zedd yawned as Kuroi pulled off the top card from his deck. "But a person like that isn't all that impressive."

Kuroi narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the cards in his hand. With a loud gulp, Kuroi threw his hand forward, "S-Sir Rams-Borg! A-Attack Pollux!"

The empowered knight lifted his sword up and immediately charged towards the sword wielding Sacred monster…

However, as the sheep themed knight leapt into the air, countless black feathers began to rain down all around the field, which made Kuroi blink a few times. "W-What in the…?"

"Did you think that it would be that easy?" Lord Zedd laughed as a powerful dark shadow began to emerge from his body. "From my hand, I can activate the effect of a certain monster when you attack a DARK monster on my field!"

The shadow leapt from Lord Zedd's body and immediately solidified into a tall, and oddly familiar figure.

Kuroi wasn't an avid fan of hearing duelist legends – He knew the basics especially with some of the more mysterious legends. Yuki Judai was an odd case in and of himself, having weird powers and connections with a duel spirit world – One such spirit that was mentioned in Shadowchaser reports was one that had the ability to manipulate memories of people, take the form of humans, and even sacrificed himself to aid Yuki Judai in one of his most dangerous battles.

The duel spirit in question was none other than Honest.

And that was the spirit that was floating over Lord Zedd… Or, at least it once was.

Instead of the angelic man with a heart of gold stood a dark skinned, black winged version of the angelic duel spirit with glowing red eyes, blood soaked claws and a mouth full of sharp teeth. The corrupted Honest cackled loudly as a dark aura engulfed Pollux (2100/1000 + 3500/0), and allowed the contaminated warrior to leap forward and bring its sword through Sir Rams-Borg stomach, surprising the warrior.

As several black feathers flew across the area, countless pixels erupted from Sir Rams-Borg's back, making the warrior fall to the ground in a slump before he shattered like glass. (KLP: 5900)

"The monster I just discarded was known as Deception," Lord Zedd explained with a loud cackle. "And I've already explained what the card does… But now that your monster has been slain, I can finally begin my conquest!"

Kuroi sighed loudly as he looked at the last few cards in his hand, "O-One monster s-set… T-Turn end!"

"I suppose that's all you can do at this point," Lord Zedd cackled as a third card appeared in front of him. "But, I'm capable of much more – I play my trap card, Reckless Greed! For the cost to two draw phases, two more cards are added to my hand!"

And indeed, two more cards were added in front of Lord Zedd allowing the Emperor of Evil to snicker, "And isn't this just appropriate – The cards that I need in order to rid the field of your pathetic defense! Activate – Dark Hole!"

A small orb of darkness appeared in the middle of the field and air began to get pulled into the small orb, sucking in the remaining two Sheep Tokens, the face down monster, the three corrupted Ojama tokens and the contaminated Sacred monster. All of the monsters struggled to remain on the field, but ultimately were all dragged into the dark hole and were crushed into space anomaly. Meanwhile, above at the Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon, four more stars appeared overhead. However, three small explosions popped over Lord Zedd's body, making the Emperor of Evil grumble under his breath, "Humph! What a pity those pathetic Ojamas left a bad presence – Oh well, not too much damage done." (ZLP: 5100)

"M-Maybe," Kuroi stated as several white feathers began to dance around him. "T-Too bad I-I was prepared! M-My monster was W-Winged Kuriboh! S-So, I w-won't take any d-d-damage this turn!"

"I had no interest in damaging you this turn anyway," Lord Zedd stated as he pointed towards one of the remaining four cards in front of him. The selected card spun around to reveal a rather interesting picture on the spell card - A beautiful angel behind a number of Sacred monsters rising up from the ground. "This is Sacred's Super Rebirth, by giving up my battle phase this turn, two Sacred monsters are returned from my graveyard to my hand. Of course, since your little puffball with wings saved you from damage this turn, that's a moot cost to add Leonis and Pollux back to my hand."

The two cards shimmered in front of the Emperor of Evil, only for one of them to shatter. "Of course, I'll start by summoning Leonis back to the field!"

A loud roar erupted as the corrupted lion-like Sacred monster leapt onto the field, its black armor glowing even darker than before (1000/1800 + 800/800). "And thanks to him, I can summon another Sacred monster from my hand! So, return Pollux!"

The second card shattered to unleash the familiar double bladed sword wielding knight, its white armor already corrupted by the field spell's power (1700/600 + 800/800). "And thanks to Pollux's ability, I can summon another monster from my hand again! I don't think I have to tell you who this one is, now do I?"

The third card in front of Zedd shattered to unleash the ram designed Sacred monster, its armor completely pitch black (700/1900 + 800/800). "And when this one is summoned, well, I think I'll take another Sacred monster from this deck – I'll go with Hawwa this time."

A third card emerged in front of Lord Zedd as he slammed his staff into the ground, making one of the remaining three cards melt into the ground. "Since I can't attack, I'll set one card face down, and end my turn."

Kuroi gulped slightly as he carefully drew from the top of his deck – Trying to ignore the three deadly glares that were looming at him. All three of them had already appeared on the field before, each of them seemed to call out to the other Sacred monsters, only to be corrupted. With a shake of his head, Kuroi turned his attention towards his newest card and nodded at it. "I… I summon G-Grinder Golem!"

Kuroi tossed one of the cards in his hand over to the field, however, before it struck Lord Zedd, the card transformed into a large machine-like monster with a single buzz saw erupting from its bulky torso armor, its right arm was a large claw while its left was a bulky clamp (3000/300). At the same time, two glowing orbs of light popped in front of Kuroi, turning into smaller versions of the Grinder Golem (0/0). "A-At the s-s-same time, t-t-two Grinder Tokens are summoned to my field!"

"So, are you seeing the futility of you fighting against me?" Lord Zedd asked with his arms crossed. "You're practically giving me monsters now!"

"Y-Yes," Kuroi stated as he held up another card from his hand. "B-But, that's only because since I got t-t-two tokens on my field, I can special summon this card from my hand!"

A loud howl echoed through the air, and immediately in front of Kuroi a large black furred wolf appeared with its teeth barred. All over the wolf's body was glistening armor that reflected everything around it (1500/1000). "Midnight Mirror Fang! A-And now, by d-d-destroying one T-Token on the field, I… I activate its effect!"

One of the Grinder Tokens shattered like glass, and immediately the Midnight Mirror Fang roared loudly as light began to flare from the reflective armor the beast wore. The Grinder Golem froze before it disappeared in a dark light that flew into the wolf's head armor. Almost immediately, the Midnight Mirror Fang's armor transformed into armor that had rust and buzz saws protruding out of it (1500/1000 + 1600/0). "W-When t-that's done, one monster on y-your field equips to m-my fang, and he g-g-gains two hundred attack points for each level on the equipped monster!"

"Hmm, you keep making this all the more interesting, little one," Lord Zedd admitted with his arms crossed. "But do you possess the skill to make the kill?"

"Y-Yes!" Kuroi announced as he threw his hand forward. "Midnight Mirror Fang! Attack Leonis!"

With a loud howl, the armored wolf dashed across the field and slammed into the corrupted Sacred monster, upon contact, the buzz saws came to life and slashed the monster into millions of pieces. (ZLP: 3800)

However, the remains flew up into the air and created another pair of stars that made the other two Sacred monsters growl loudly (1500/2700 + 200/200) (2500/1400 + 200/200). Lord Zedd laughed loudly as he threw his head back, "Impressive! I wouldn't expect such a little girl to be able to pull off such a move – But then again, you attacked me earlier, so I should've expected that!"

"…" Kuroi lowered his head with a loud sigh before he lifted his head up. "Um… I-I'm a twenty y-year old g-g-guy…"

Lord Zedd's laughter immediately stopped, and it was almost as if time had stopped itself.

Blinking a few times, Kuroi looked at the last two cards in his head and slipped one card into his duel disk, making it appear behind his two monsters. "Uh, t-turn end…"

Quietly, Lord Zedd looked at the two cards in front of him – Thanks to Reckless Greed, he wasn't allowed to draw another card from his deck. Rather, he just gestured towards one of the cards in front of him and made it transform into a small child dressed in golden armor with a staff that's coiled with gold – However, it only took a second for the light monster to become one with the darkness, struggling at the same time (900/100 + 1000/1000). "Summon Sacred Hawwa in attack mode."

'… _I think I may have made the Emperor of Evil speechless,'_ Kuroi thought to himself as he pushed up his glasses. '_… Do I really look that much like a girl?'_

"Now, by relinquishing its existence," Lord Zedd announced as the Hawwa disappeared in a dark aura. "Hawwa can summon another Sacred from the graveyard – Revive Antares! And since another corrupted monster was sent to the graveyard, two more counters!"

Almost Pollux (2700/1800 + 200/200) and Sheratan (1700/2900 + 200/200), another orb of light emerged on the field, this time unleashing Antares again, only this time crouching down (2400/900 + 1200/1200). "And thanks to Antares, another Sacred returns to my hand again.

"But thanks to Double Summon… Return Hawwa, but he's not staying for long!"

In a pop of light, the small Sacred monster appeared on the field, but quickly vanished in darkness to allow Leonis to reappear on the field, crouched down before the darkness overtook him again (1000/1800 + 1400/1400) (2900/2000 + 200/200) (1900/3100 + 200/200) (3600/2100 + 200/200). "Now, even my weakest monsters shall become a powerful force of their own! Pollux! Eliminate that token and this creature's life points!"

'_So… I don't even get a gender now?'_ Kuroi questioned in his head as the dual bladed knight leapt through the air, however, Kuroi lifted his duel disk up and pushed a button on it. "I p-play Mirror Force! N-Now, the monsters in a-attack position are destroyed!"

A powerful barrier appeared between Pollux and the Grinder Token which intercepted the attack and shattered. The remains of the barrier transformed into light and shot through both Pollux and Sheratan, destroying both of them at the same time. However, the remains of the monsters flew up into the sky, creating four more stars above, giving the Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon eighteen counters to work with (2400/3200 + 400/400) (3800/2300 + 400/400). However, Lord Zedd remained silent.

'_I… I can't tell if he wanted that or not…'_ Kuroi thought as Lord Zedd's visor glowed a bright red.

"… Turn end," The Emperor of Evil stated automatically as Kuroi pulled off the top card from his deck.

Kuroi looked at the two cards in his hand and nodded at them before he snapped his fingers, making the remaining Grinder Token crouch down. "F-First my token goes to d-d-defense mode, then, I go on the attack! Midnight Mirror Fang! D-Destroy Antares!"

Without a second thought, the empowered wolf dashed over the field and slammed into the robotic Sacred monster, shattering it into a pair of stars that floated above the Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon, which made Leonis roar loudly (2800/3600 + 200/200).

'_T-That thing is a m-monster!'_ Kuroi thought to himself.

"… Finally," Lord Zedd chuckled under his breath.

"H-Huh?" Kuroi questioned.

"End your turn, pathetic creature!" Lord Zedd ordered loudly as he slammed his staff into the ground.

Kuroi yelped slightly at the Lord of Evil's declaration and he looked at the last two cards in his hand but shook his head. "T-Turn end…"

For a second time, no card appeared in front of Lord Zedd, but he didn't seem to care. "My face down card activates - A second Reckless Greed, so I can draw two more cards."

As the two cards appeared in front of Lord Zedd, the Emperor of Evil's visor lit up greatly, 'Now, its time that I bring out the strongest force at my disposal… I set one card face down and sacrifice Leonis…"

Leonis snarled before it faded away…

"In order to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch! Or in this case, the Eclipsed Monarch!"

Kuroi's eyes widened as a tall and mighty warrior materialized in front of him, its golden armored body glimmering from itself. The warrior had a long flowing cape and a ring at its back. The warrior slammed his fists together to create a powerful surge of light energy… However, the mighty warrior gasped loudly as its golden armor began to turn into a gun-metal black color (2400/1000 + 2200/2200). "And now, when its summoned, I can destroy up to two cards… So I'll destroy my set card…

"And Kuraz himself!"

Both the set card and golden monarch shattered into many particles of light, Kuroi blinked a few times as two cards materialized in front of Lord Zedd and two stars appeared above the Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon – Now adorned with twenty-four counters. "Ah, and this is just perfect, the card that I needed…"

'_W-What is he planning?'_ Kuroi thought to himself as he lifted his duel disk up defensively.

"I activate the spell card, Mystical Space Typhoon!" Lord Zedd announced as one of the two cards in front of him transformed into a powerful twister that flew over the field. "And with its destructive abilities… I'll destroy my own castle!"

Kuroi blinked a few times as the storm began to surge around the castle, making countless cracks emerge on the castle and the grounds around the two duelists. "W-What? Why?"

Lord Zedd didn't answer as the entire field spell shattered, along with the continuous spell card, returning the two duelists back to their original place near the warehouses. Kuroi shook his head, "B-But, after all that work… A-Any monster you summoned would've…"

"Still your tongue, mortal!" Lord Zedd laughed loudly as he slammed his staff into the ground, however, the moment he did, the ground began to shake wildly, making Kuroi fall backwards. "Yes, my Field and Continuous spell card combo would be enough to fight against you, but its thanks to my field spell that I can bring out my strongest creature.

"For each Eclipse Counter that was placed upon that card, it was one more step towards your destruction, for when my field spell falls, I can summon a creature from the extra deck who's level is half of the number of counters it had on it at its destruction disregarding any summoning conditions it may have.

"And I had twenty-four…"

Kuroi's eyes widened, that meant that this Emperor of Evil could summon almost any creature that he deemed fit!

"Arise my beast of destruction!" Lord Zedd commanded as the ground behind him began to crack and eventually opened up to unleash a terribly large shadow. "From my extra deck, I call forth the powerful and mighty machine that I made of my own devices…"

The shadow lifted up into the air and continued to do so. For a moment, Kuroi thought that he was dealing with something that King of Games himself had faced – Slifer the Sky Dragon – The way that the monster coiled itself amongst the clouds above was enough to make Kuroi make that simple mistake. But when the shadows along the creature began to dissipate, Kuroi was a little relieved that he wasn't dealing with a god, but still shaken at the sight above him.

Amongst the clouds was a large mechanical, serpentine dragon that was covered with green and gun-metal gray armor over its body. Its head was adorned with silver spikes and had whiskers on the sides of its face, which had a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. The machine roared loudly before its eyes glowed a bright red (3500/2000). "N-No way… Is… Is that…"

"Do you know what my monster is?" Lord Zedd chuckled as he lifted his arm up into the air. "Then you know that Serpenterra of the Eclipsed Moon is capable of destroying whole worlds on its own accord! Now that it's finally here, I may use my machine to conquer this world… But I'll start with you!

"I use Serpenterra's first effect! Now, I reveal the top five cards from my deck…"

Five cards appeared in front of Lord Zedd and spun around to reveal the following cards – Daybreaker, Pot of Avarice, Jar of Greed, Sacred Dabaran and Smashing Ground. The cards immediately faded away and Serpenterra's eyes glowed a bright red. "Now, for each LIGHT monster that was revealed with this effect, one card on the field is destroyed! And since two light monsters were revealed, both of your monsters hit the scrap heap!"

Serpenterra opened its mechanical mouth wide and fired two bursts of black flame that flew through the air and crashed into the Midnight Mirror Fang and Grinder Token, the force was enough to make Kuroi stagger back. "URK!"

"And that was just its effect!" Lord Zedd laughed loudly as he pointed his staff towards Kuroi. "Just wait till you see its attack in action! Eliminate!"

For a third time, Serpenterra unleashed a powerful burst of black flames from its mouth that flew through the air and crashed into Kuroi's body, making the young Shadowchaser cry out in pain as the flames danced around him. "GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH!" (KLP: 2400)

As the flames died down, Kuroi fell to his knees, his clothes smoldering from the dramatic attack that he just received. Lord Zedd however was laughing hysterically, "MARVELOUS! Simply marvelous! That shrill cry of pain is so tantalizing, I wonder what would happen if you were struck by Serpenterra's attack once more? Oh well, I suppose I can wait till next turn to find out.

"Especially since I can use the other two effects of Serpenterra – Should you activate a spell or trap effect, I can reveal the top two cards of my deck, and if a LIGHT or DARK monster was revealed, I can negate that card's effect! And if Serpenterra destroys a monster in battle, it can attack again!

"So, turn end!"

Kuroi took a deep breath and slowly reached for his deck – then stopped when he looked up to see Serpenterra leering down at him. And he could feel some sort of pressure pushing down on his shoulders as he looked into the deep red eyes of the mechanical dragon. Memories of when he was a kid floated into his mind when he remembered watching the very show that Lord Zedd had appeared in…

And how he had cheered for the heroes of that show to defeat him and his onslaught of corrupted monsters – Kuroi was able to remember it so clearly thanks to his past that…

…

'_W-Wait! I… I've got it!'_ Kuroi thought as he placed his hand on his extra deck at his waist. '_If… If I play this r-r-right, then I can… I can beat this monster!'_

"L-Lord Zedd!"

"Hmm?" The Emperor of Evil questioned with his head tilted slightly.

"D-Do you recall f-f-fighting s-six teens w-who were dressed in c-c-colorful outfits?" Kuroi asked as he drew the top card from his deck, giving him three cards in his hand.

"… If you're talking about those foolish children," Lord Zedd huffed loudly with his arms crossed. "They are nothing more than a despised memory – And if they haven't showed up at this point, I can only assume that they are not in this world!"

"W-Wrong!" Kuroi stated as he threw his arm to the side. "T-They may not b-be here, but the m-morals and strength that t-they stood f-for reside within me! And…"

Kuroi stood up straight, and threw his hand towards Lord Zedd, "I'll stop you!"

"Again with the pretty little words," Lord Zedd chuckled to himself as Serpenterra roared loudly. "But can you really pull it off?"

"I can… No, I will!" Kuroi announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk, which made the lone card in front of him flip up. "And it starts with this! The trap card – Limit Reverse! So, I can summon back Sir Rams-Borg!"

"Forget so soon?" Lord Zedd chuckled as two cards popped in front of him. "If one of the two cards I reveal is a Light or Dark monster, then that card is useless!"

The two cards spun around – One was a spell card called Photon Lead, and the other was a monster card…

Kuroi's eyes widened at the monster.

Then slowly…

His mouth curled up into a bright smile. "Yes! Morphing Jar!"

Lord Zedd's visor lit up greatly as the cards disappeared and Sir Rams-Borg reappeared, his armor sliding off of his body as he struggled to lift up his sword (1000/500). "Next, I'll summon Kuriboh in attack mode!"

In a small puff of smoke, the brown furred puffball appeared in front of Kuroi, squeaking loudly (300/200). "And to top it off – I play the spell card, Multiply!"

The Kuriboh spun around before it popped into three other exact copies of the original, all of them squeaking loudly (300/200 x4), Sir Rams-Borg smirked as the Kuriboh Tokens floated around him, empowering the young warrior (1000/500 + 2000/0).

However, Lord Zedd didn't seem too impressed, his arms were crossed, "… And what are you trying to accomplish with this cutesy little monsters? Are you going to try to make Serpenterra's gears clog up with those little puffballs?"

Kuroi however held the last card in his hand and spun it around, "No, they're going to work together! That way they can defeat any sort of evil! I play the equip spell – United We Stand! So, Sir Rams-Borg gains eight hundred attack and defense points for each monster on my field…

"And I've got a full field!"

Sir Rams-Borg's armor began to glow a bright gold, making his face smirk greatly as all four of the Kuriboh's leapt onto his shoulders, making the young warrior beam greatly (3000/500 + 4000/4000).

Lord Zedd, for the first time of the duel, showed a bit of hesitation – Taking a step back, "W-What?"

"Like the heroes that thwarted your evil plots time and time again," Kuroi stated as he crossed his arms over his chest and then struck an overly dramatic pose with his arms raised up. "My monsters have combined their powers, and will use that power to destroy evil!

"Sir Rams-Borg! Slay that dragon and use… I can't believe I'm going to say this…

"Use the Power Sword!"

A powerful gold and red aura erupted around Sir Rams-Borg's sword reaching up high into the air with the energy surging around it. With a loud battle cry, Sir Rams-Borg slashed his sword through the air and cut right through Serpenterra's body.

For a moment, Serpenterra just floated amongst the clouds, as if the attack didn't do anything to it. But, slowly, it slowly began to divide into countless pieces that began to fall down. Lord Zedd lifted up his staff into the air, with a dark energy surrounding it. "NO! I REFUSE TO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN!" (ZLP: 0)

However, the energy around the staff only fizzled away, and the remains of Serpenterra fell to the ground quickly around Lord Zedd with loud crashes around him. Lord Zedd yelled out as Serpenterra's head landed atop of him with a large amount of black smoke erupting from where the impact struck. "…"

And slowly, the remains of Serpenterra disappeared, and the only thing that remained of Lord Zedd was what appeared to be his wicked staff. Kuroi sighed loudly as he fell backwards, "T-That was tiring… I c-c-can't believe I just fought L-Lord Zedd…

"And won!"

Looking up into the clouded sky Kuroi smiled slightly, "… D-Does this m-make me a ranger now? Hmm… I g-guess t-that would m-make Irving red, he's the l-leader. Hardin w-would be black, I could s-see Taiga as yellow… W-Wait…

"D-Does that make me P-Pink?"

While Kuroi was fretting over that, he failed to realize that he was still on the job… But that all changed when a single sound pierced the air…

BANG!

_TBC_

**TTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Sacred Pollux / Light / LV. 4 / ATK: 1700 / DEF: 600 / Warrior/Effect:** Once during the turn this card is Normal Summoned, you can Normal Summon 1 'Sacred' monster in addition to your Normal Summon or Set.**  
>Description:<strong> A large gleaming knight dressed in sunlight and crystal armor with a dual bladed sword in its mighty hands.

**Sacred Leonis / Light / LV. 3 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 1800 / Beast/Effect:** While this card is face-up on the field, once during your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 'Sacred' monster in addition to your Normal summon.**  
>Description:<strong> A sleek knight in white armor with a crystal blue hue to it with gleaming blue claws and a mane of blue hair from its helmet.

**Sacred Hawwa / Light / LV. 2 / ATK: 900 / DEF: 100 / Spellcaster/Effect:** You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 'Sacred' monster except 'Sacred Hawwa', from your hand or Graveyard in Face-Up Defense position.**  
>Description:<strong> A small child dressed in golden armor with a staff that's coiled with gold.

**Sacred Antares / Light / LV. 6 / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 900 / Machine/Effect:** When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Target one 'Sacred' monster in your graveyard; add it to your hand. **  
>Description:<strong> A sleek robotic knight dressed in light silver armor armed with a bendable spear that's tipped with a red laser blade

**Sacred Gredi / Light / LV. 4 / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 1400 / Spellcaster/Effect:** When this card is Normal Summoned: You can special summon one Level 4 'Sacred' monster from your hand.**  
>Description:<strong> A young woman dressed in silver armor with a horned helmet and armed with a small staff.

**Sacred Sheratan / Light / LV. 3 / ATK: 700 / DEF: 1900 / Beast/Effect:** When this card is Normal Summoned: You can add 1 'Sacred' monster from your Deck to your hand.**  
>Description:<strong> A small silver armored knight with a pair of ram horns atop of its helmet with a futuristic gun in its hand.

**Sacred's Super Rebirth / Normal Spell / Effect:** Target 2 'Sacred' monsters in your Graveyard; add them to your hand. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activated this card.**  
>Image:<strong> A beautiful angel behind a number of Sacred monsters rising up from the ground.  
><em>The preceding cards will all be available in the upcoming duel terminal cards.<em>

**Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon / Field Spell / Effect:** As long as this card is face up on the field, all LIGHT monsters on your side of the field are treated as DARK monsters. When a monster who's attribute is changed with this card's effect is sent to the graveyard, place one 'Eclipse Counter' on this card for each card that was sent. When this card is removed from the field, you may special summon one monster from your extra deck who's level/rank is half of the number of 'Eclipse Counters' on this card (ignore all summoning conditions).**  
>Image: <strong>a large, mystical fortress that glowed with a dark light with many weird constellations around the fortress

**Eclipsed Power / Continuous Spell / Effect: **This card can only be activated while there is a face up 'Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon' on your side of the field. If there is no' Fortress of the Eclipsed Moon' on the field, destroy this card. When an 'Eclipse Counter' would be placed on a card, you may place an addition 'Eclipse Counter' on that card (except for this card's effect). Increase the ATK and DEF of all face up DARK monsters on your side of the field by 100 points for each 'Eclipse Counter' on the field.**  
>Image: <strong>a blocked out sun that had several diabolic creatures surging with energy underneath it

**Serpenterra of the Eclipsed Moon / Dark / LV. 12 / ATK: 3500 / DEF: 2000 / Machine/Synchro/Effect: **[1 Tuner + 3 or more DARK Monsters] Each of these can be activated once per turn: -) Reveal the top 5 cards from your deck. Shuffle them back in, and for each LIGHT monster that was revealed, you may destroy one card on the field (this effect cannot be negated or chained to and this effect can only be activated during your turn). -) When your opponent activates a spell or trap card effect, reveal the top two cards from your deck. Shuffle them back in, and if one of the revealed cards was a DARK or LIGHT monster, negate the activation and destroy that card. -) When this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, this card can attack once more in a row.**  
>Description: <strong>a large mechanical, serpentine dragon that was covered with green and gun-metal gray armor over its body. Its head was adorned with silver spikes and had whiskers on the sides of its face, which had a large mouth filled with sharp teeth

**Light's Blight / Trap / Effect: **During the end phase when a DARK monster who's original Attribute was originally LIGHT is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you may draw two cards from the bottom of your deck. When this card is removed from the field, remove it from play instead.**  
>Image: <strong>Several shadows surrounding Athena

**Deception / Dark / LV. 4 / ATK: 1100 / DEF: 1900 / Fiend/Effect: **During either player's Damage Step, when a face-up DARK monster you control battles, you can send this card from your hand to Graveyard to have that monster gain ATK equal to the ATK of the opponent's monster it is battling, until the End Phase. By removing this card and one other DARK monster in your graveyard, you may select one face up card on the field and return it to its owner's hand. **  
>Description: <strong>a dark skinned, black winged version of the angelic duel spirit with glowing red eyes, blood soaked claws and a mouth full of sharp teeth

**Midnight Mirror Fang / Dark / LV. 6 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1000 / Beast/Effect: **This card cannot be Special summoned from your deck or graveyard. If you possess two or more Token Monsters on your side of the field, you may special summon this card from your hand. Once per turn, by destroying one Token monster on the field, you may select one monster on your opponent's side of the field and equip it to this card (this card can only be equipped with one monster at a time). This card gains 200 ATK x the level of the equipped monster. **  
>Description: <strong>a large black furred wolf appeared with its teeth barred. All over the wolf's body was glistening armor that reflected everything around it

**TTTTTTTTT**

**Next Time on Dark City Chronicles!**

**While Kuroi managed to defeat an Emperor of Evil, that doesn't mean everyone else's challenges were any easier!**

**Next time we find out what happens to Hardin and the two lookouts – What sort of mysteries and shadows do they face?**

**And what could top Lord Zedd summoning Serpenterra?**

**How will I top my next duel?**

**And why did I decide to break the fourth wall?**

**Find the answers to all of these next time in:**

_**Draw 10**_

_**Full-Force Strike**_


	11. Draw 10: FullForce Sritke

_**They say that you can't judge a book by its cover – Kuroi and myself are testaments to that line, Kuroi fits that line more often though. But, even though we fall into this old saying, we ourselves fall into this as well, we make presumptions about others depending on our first impressions. Heck, take Irving for example – When I first met him, he was dressed in that same overcoat that he wears now-a-days, and I thought that he was actually a freak preparing to flash someone.**_

_**But I learned that Irving was a nice guy – When he wasn't training me or Kuroi that is (I still get nightmares thanks to that demented training, but it paid off I guess…). Still, one can't help when being a Shadowchaser to judge people based on what they look like – Take ophidian for example, for a long time, they were under a lot of scrutiny from Shadowchasers because of what a select few of them wanted to do. But now things are getting better for the race… Slowly, but surely they are. **_

_**The person before me right now though… His appearance is comical, as is his manner of speech – But, for some odd reason, he seems to exude an aura of… Well, I can't really describe it. The guy's that weird looking, he acts weird, and he says the weirdest of things – It's almost as if he's an epitome of chaos and enjoys it no doubt.**_

_**That's fine, I've dealt with people like that before…**_

… _**Just none that were pink…**_

**TTTTTTTTTTTT**

**Draw 10**

**Full-Force Strike**

**TTTTTTTT**

While Kuroi was busy shivering by himself in front of the warehouse, Hardin was stationed at the back of the warehouse, hidden under the shadows casted by the warehouse itself. There was hardly any light in the allyway, which made it rather a hard task for Hardin to watch the alleyway.

Still, it also allowed Hardin to remain hidden, which was a good thing most of the time. While she was hidden from any potential foes, it also meant that she was hidden from the sight of her allies…

"… Hardin, are you there?"

Thankfully, that's when the com-link came in handy. Hardin lifted her hand up to her ear and softly spoke, "Yes Mr. Vayne, I read you."

"You know, its fine to just call me Hyde…"

"I was taught to respect my elders," Hardin replied.

There was a bit of silence over the link until Hyde cleared his throat, "Whatever floats your boat…"

'_Did I touch a bad subject?'_ Hardin thought to herself.

"… Do you see anything that looks suspicious down there?"

"Just dark, black, and shadows," Hardin answered back. "Do you see anything up on your perch, Mr. Vayne?"

"Other than a couple of pigeons, no. Personally, I don't like this one bit."

"Not a fan of stakeouts?" Hardin questioned.

"No those are fine. I'm referring to the situation itself – This seems like it could be a distraction or a trap set up by the BackDraft Corps… And personally, I've had my fair of share of traps, and I know what they are… What the?"

"Mr. Vayne?" Hardin questioned as she sat up straight from her hiding space. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"… I'm gonna have to call you back…"

And just like that, the line went dead.

"Mr. Vayne? Vayne!" Hardin whispered loudly into the com-link. "Are you okay!"

**TTTTTTTT**

What was the reason that caused Hyde to cut the communication with Hardin?

A few minutes earlier…

Atop of one of the roofs in the warehouse district, Hyde stood strong with the night breeze gently slipping past him, carrying the smoke that he was producing with his latest cigarette. It was a weird night as Hyde had noticed the sky as he kept an eye on the alleyways nearby – The sky was clear (an oddity you didn't normally have in New York City now-a-days) with the moon gleaming down from above. However, the sky was darkening with several dark clouds that ominously encircled the sky above.

… Hyde scoffed at the weather's sudden change.

It was supposed to be a clear night, but the sudden change in the weather made Hyde remember the very reason why he was back in New York City in the first place – To find that bastard. He didn't know what he'd do when he found him, but Hyde just new that he had to find him, what he'd do when he did…

… He'd cross that bridge when it came to it.

'_Better check in on someone,'_ Hyde thought as he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and lifted his free hand towards the com-link in his ear. "… Hardin, are you there?"

As Hyde continued to speak into the com-link, he didn't seem to notice that on the rooftops of the warehouses behind him several shadowy forms began to sprout up from the rooftop, their sleek, yet oddly similar figures, basked in whatever little moonlight that wasn't covered up by the gather clouds. Then, all at once, the shadowy figures dashed towards where Hyde was standing.

"… And personally, I've had my fair share of traps," Hyde stated into the com-link with a sigh following. "And I know what they are…"

If it was for the loud clang of several footsteps, Hyde never would've turned around to see the multiple figures dashing towards him. "…What the?"

"Mr. Vayne? What's going on? Are you okay?"

Before Hyde could answer, one of the figures reached him and threw a punch towards the older Shadowchaser. Hyde quickly dipped down, dodging the punch and he immediately delivered his own swift uppercut that caught the jaw of the first of his mysterious attackers. "… I'm gonna have to call you back…"

And like that, Hyde cut the line noticed that the person he just punched merely flipped back and stood alongside with the others in the group. Hyde raised an eyebrow as he noticed that the one that he had struck had its head pointed upwards at an angle that no normal human could live through. Even stranger, the man lifted his arms up and fixed his head.

Hyde placed his cigarette back into his mouth and at that moment, a bolt of red energy struck through the air, lighting up the entire area – Which allowed Hyde an instant to see who his mysterious attackers were.

They were all dressed the same, black suits all around with white shirts underneath, white roses and had their faces covered with similar masks that had a bone-like symbol on the front of the mask and between the eyes of the mask. It had been a few years since Hyde had seen what was standing before – But he smirked when his suspicions were confirmed.

So, pulling the cigarette from his mouth, Hyde threw the cigarette to his feet and stomped down on it, "Well, well, well… I never thought I'd see Living Masquerades again. And here I thought that you guys were a trademark of a certain shark…"

A number of thoughts raced through Hyde's head as he looked at the twenty or so Living Masquerardes – Why were they here? Did they have a connection to the BackDraft Corps? How long were they waiting here?

… And could they be related to 'him'?

Those questions would remain unanswered as all of the Living Masquerades began their charge once more towards the older Shadowchaser, and in return Hyde charged right back.

**TTTTTT**

"Mr. Vayne?" Hardin muttered loudly into the com-link, tapping the device a few times. "Mr. Vayne! Answer!"

Hardin bit her lower lip as she switched the frequency on the com-link. "Irving! We've got a problem and…"

The only thing that came back was a ton of static. '_Damn it… It's being jammed! Is this a trap?'_

"Yoohoo, Shadowchaser! Come out, come out where ever you are! PLEASE?"

Hardin had to blink a few times when she heard the voice call out to her, it was masculine, but sounded… Off. It had a musical tone to it and was quite joyous. Slowly, Hardin peered her head out from behind her hiding spot and immediately regretted it.

Standing in the alleyway with a makeshift spotlight gleaming from behind was a rather slim man dressed in some weird looking clothes. The only article of clothing that seemed to be normal was the pair of tight black jeans that hugged his slim hips, the rest of his clothing was… Questionable. He was wearing what appeared to be a hot pink and black hoodie that had two protrusions on the hood that looked to be like bunny ears that wiggled as the man move. And that hoodie was the only thing that he wore on his upper body. The weirdest thing about this man was that he had pink wild hair… And it didn't look like it was dyed. "Yoohoo! Ya don't wanna keep me waiting… Do ya Shadowchaser?"

No matter how many times Hardin looked at the… 'man', she was certain of one thing, '_He's human… I think…'_

"… Did I miss the Shadowchaser?" The pink haired man questioned as he placed a finger on his lips. "Awe, and I got all dressed up for this, Grogg isn't gonna be happy with this – Especially since 'he' had put a lot of effort into this… Oh well, I suppose I could see if those other Shadowchasers are done being pounded into a pulp. Might be fun…"

Once again, Hardin had to look at the pink haired man who was now swaying his hips. Not something you saw everyday – Although she didn't want to deal with him, Hardin knew that she couldn't just leave him to his deeds, especially since he just said the name of one of the two leaders of the BackDraft Corps.

As the weird man began to pick up the portable spotlight, Hardin slowly stepped from behind the crates she was originally hidden behind and immediately cleared her throat. The pink haired man jumped slightly and nearly dropped the portable spotlight, "EEEK!"

With a bit of a struggle, the pink haired man caught the spotlight and gently placed it back behind him. Then with a great smile, the pink haired man beamed at Hardin, "Ah! There you are! I finally thought that I was being stood up here! Its rude to keep people waiting, especially when they're trying to ambush you!"

'… _I was trying to ambush you,'_ Hardin thought as she pushed up her glasses at the weird character in front of her.

"Oh well, that's no biggie!" The pink hair man cheered loudly as he twirled around on his heels. "Let me tell ya something Mr. Shadowchaser, I'm one of the top dogs in the BackDraft Corps, the one known to everyone as Captain Marvelous, the one and only – Francisco Zanzibar Delano! But feel free to call me Delano."

Hardin didn't know what to say to this guy, or rather if she wanted to say something to this overly excitable gang member. He certainly seemed like he'd prefer talking his own monologue thank allowing her into the conversation…

"Hmm, ya know, when the boss told me what you Shadowchasers were," Delano stated as he walked towards Hardin with his arms held out. "I was expecting you to be wearing some flashy uniform that would scream sexy, or it would be colorful so people would be able to distinguish ya… Oh well, I guess appearances can be deceiving though…

"So, what's your name, Mister?"

"… Oh, were you talking to me?" Hardin questioned as she pushed up her hat slightly. "Sorry, it was hard for me to tell if you were just doing a self-made monologue or if this was a conversation."

"Oooh, that stung," Delano winced to himself before he smiled brightly. "Then again, I like it rough… But what's your name mister?"

"First off, I'm a woman," Hardin stated with her arms crossed under her chest. "Second, I'm Hardin."

"A woman?" Delano questioned as he placed a hand on his chin. "Well, you certainly seem a bit too shrew to be a man, so I guess that has to be true."

Hardin closed her eyes, this guy was acting like a gossiping teenage girl – Which only made the situation all the stranger. Of course, being a Shadowchaser, Hardin was used to dealing with weird characters all the time – Just none that were human and this weird. "Is there a point to any of this?"

"Aw, and I came up with a good comedy routine for us to try," Delano chuckled with a large smirk on his face. "But I suppose we should get down to business – I'm here to take my boss's enemies from behind, and currently, that means you. So yeah! I gotta make sure that you don't go anywhere, girlie!"

'_This is totally not my jurisdiction,'_ Hardin thought to herself as she lifted her hand up towards Delano. "Look… Delano, right? I don't know what your boss told you about what us Shadowchasers do, but it certainly isn't anything fun. My best advice for you is that you turn around, take your little strobe-light with ya, and get your hair dyed back to its original color…"

However, before Hardin could continue, a weird pink light immediately wrapped around her held up wrist, surprising the black wearing Shadowchaser. The light immediately died down to reveal a high-tech cuff that was latched around her wrist and seemed to lock into place. There was a long synthetic wire connected to the cuff that Hardin's eyes followed to reveal that the other cuff was attached to Delano's wrist.

Currently, Delano was wagging his finger at Hardin and stuck his tongue out at her, "Uh, uh, uh! You don't get to tell little young me what to do, little missy! I may be part of the BackDraft Corps, but I'm a professional Duel Assassin! And just hearing what powerful duelists you Shadowchasers can be – I'd be k-razy to not go after one of ya!

"Besides, I hear talk that you've got yourself a pretty primo card – Jalal the Dragonborn or the Dragonprince… Or whatever the hell it was called. I think I can find a few buyers who would be willing to pay anything to get that little puppy in their collections, especially considering its powerful effect!"

Hardin raised an eyebrow as Delano went on another tirade again, so she decided to unhook the cuff on her wrist… Only to get a small spark erupting from the cuff. "Ow!"

Delano sighed loudly, "What part of professional Duel Assassin do you not get? I'd be a very sorry excuse of a D-Assassin if I let my prey get away easily like that… Always take them up from behind and make sure they don't get out of your grasp! That's what my papi always told me.

"So, this duel cuff won't come off until a I give the word or until the life point counter on my duel disk goes to zero… And before you say I don't have a duel disk…"

Pulling up his sleeve, Delano revealed that he did indeed have a duel disk strapped to his left arm, and that it was already activated – And even had a deck of duel monster cards lodged into it. "So, unless you wanna get zapped as a penalty, I suggest that you strap on a duel disk and get yourself ready for a beat-down smack-down!"

With a look of pure exasperation, Hardin reached into her overcoat pocket and produced a duel disk and her deck. Immediately, Hardin clipped the device to her arm and snapped the deck into her duel disk, "Fine, I might as well do this. I get the feeling you'd probably be the kind of guy who'd follow his opponent to the end of the world…"

"Ya gotta be stubborn in this business," Delano answered back with a large bright smile on his face as Hardin's duel disk activated. "Besides, being tenacious is a good trait to have to your name." (DLP: 8000)

"Tenacity and stubbornness are two completely different things," Hardin countered as both duelists pulled off the top five cards from their decks. (HLP: 8000)

"Harsh words, but true," Delano chuckled as he looked over the cards in his hand. "But to prove that I'm not heartless – You can have the first turn."

"How generous," Hardin stated under her breath as she pulled off a sixth card from her deck and looked at the card. '_… Not the best hand I've had, but I'll have to make due with this…'_

Hardin slowly pulled a card from her hand and slapped it onto her duel disk, making a face down monster appear before her, with its card back towards the two duelists. "One set monster, and I'll set one card face down as well. That's it for me."

As the back row set card materialized in front of Hardin, Delano shook his head, "Really? That's what you're gonna do? No flashy opening? No bad ass monsters?"

"If you start off with your big guns right off the bat, then you'll have nothing for the late game," Hardin answered.

"I suppose so," Delano replied as he plucked off a card from his deck. "But, if you don't use the big guns right at the start, then you might not get to use them at all! Watch and learn, I'll start this duel off with Dark World Dealings!"

Hardin shrugged her shoulders as she pulled off the top card from her deck while Delano did the same. However, while Hardin had to look at her cards, Delano immediately slipped the card he didn't want into his duel disk's graveyard slot. After a few seconds, Hardin made her choice and discarded the card. Delano smiled brightly as he looked at the five cards in his hand. "Alrighty then! Now I'll play another spell card, this one called the Flute of Hammelin! Now, I select one monster in my graveyard that was put there, and I can make both of us dump all copies of the discarded card from our hands and decks.

"The monster I'm choosing of course is Phantom Beast Cross-Wing! So both copies I have in my deck go straight to the grave – How about you, you got any?"

Hardin shook her head as two cards popped out from Delano's deck and into his hand, which prompted him to discard both of the cards. "Although, I now know what you're running…"

"Just because you know, doesn't mean you can stop it," Delano replied as he held up another card from his hand. "Especially now that I'm summoning Phantom Beast Wild-Horn in attack mode!"

A loud beastly cry echoed through the air as a large, muscular moose-man materialized in front of Delano, the beastly-warrior wielding a hooked blade that he held up in the air (1700/0). The moose-man snorted loudly as a powerful surge of light erupted around its two large antlers (1700/0 + 900/0). "And since I got three Cross-Wings in the graveyard, my beastie gains three hundred for each! Now for the attack!

"Wild-Horn! Smash her defense!"

The moose-man charged across the field and immediately slammed his curved blade into the face down monster, cleaving the card in two to reveal a small blue furred rodent clutching a small skull in its paws (1400/1450). However, the Wild-Horn only snorted louder and spun around to deliver another slash that sliced right through the large rodent. The rat squeaked loudly in pain before it shattered into millions of pixels that flew back into Hardin's body. (HLP: 6850)

"I don't think I have to tell you what Wild-Horn can do – trampling damage! And now… Here's a surprise!"

Hardin blinked a few times as the cuff on her wrist flickered to life, creating a number of pink sparks that flew from the duel cuff and surprised the Shadowchaser. "ACK!"

"I hope you like the little surprise I have," Delano snickered like a prepubescent monkey, completely with a buffoonish look on his face. "Every time one of us takes damage, that person who took the damage gets a little… 'show' of sorts. Try not to get shocked or burned!"

"… That's fine," Hardin stated calmly.

"Hmm?" Delano questioned.

"I still have my Giant Rat's ability!" Hardin replied as she pulled out her deck and fanned it out in front of her. "Which allows me to special summon an Earth monster from my deck, so long as it doesn't have more than fifteen hundred…"

"BORING!" Delano interrupted with his tongue stuck out at the black wearing Shadowchaser. "I know what that old card can do and it's BORING!"

With a small blood vessel appearing on the side of her head, Hardin slowly continued with her move and pulled the selected monster from her deck. Then as she gently fitted the cards of her deck into her duel disk, the device began to shuffle the cards itself and she slapped the card onto her duel disk. In a flash of light, the cute Toy Soldier (800/400) appeared on the field with his musket leaned up against his tiny shoulder.

A loud exasperated sigh echoed through the air as Delano fell backwards and sat on his ass, "Man, are you trying to lose?"

"What?" Hardin questioned with a raised an eyebrow.

"Using a card like that?" Delano explained with a shake of his head. "That's so ten years ago! I didn't think a person would use a toy deck… Then again, most women wouldn't want to get too far from their 'toys'."

A blush appeared on Hardin's face before she shook her head, "You're disgusting."

"I only speak the truth," Delano replied as he slipped two cards into his duel disk. "But anyway, enough of your dirty denial, I'll set a couple of cards face down, and end my turn!"

With a slight cough to get rid of the blush on her face, Hardin slowly drew from her deck and almost immediately the Toy Soldier produced a small bugle and blew into it to play a familiar military tune. "I won't bother explaining what my monster can do, but I'll still bring out my army!"

In two flashes of light, the two similar Toy Soldiers appeared next to the original, both of them with their muskets raised up (800/400 x2) along with the original Toy Soldier.

"So you got three for the price of none," Delano yawned loudly as he rubbed the back of his head. "What next? You gonna synch them? Tribute them?"

"Actually, I was thinking of doing something else," Hardin replied as she spun around a card in her hand. "I play the spell card – DM Pawn Shop!"

Hardin's spell card materialized, showing an older man looking over an Exceed card in what appeared to be a card shop. "We'll get to what this spell can do later, but for now, I'll activate the overlay network!"

All three of the Toy Soldiers saluted towards Hardin before they transformed into three bright orange lights that flew through the air. A powerful vortex appeared in front of Hardin that drew in all of the lights that flew into the vortex. "Now, I overlay all three of my Toy Soldiers, in order to Exceed summon…"

The vortex erupted with countless sparks that flew through the air as a large cube popped out of the vortex. The large cube spun around to reveal several cartoonish monsters on the sides of the cube along with a large turnkey on one of the sides of the cube. The turnkey began to spin and a oddly familiar tune of 'Pop Goes the Weasel' sounded through the air. When the song stopped playing, the top of the box popped open to reveal a rather goofy looking monster that was a practical mish-mash of many other toys.

The head of the creature looked to belong to that of a stuffed lion that had a horn sticking out from its golden mane, its body looked to have a red, metallic coat on it with a cravat, its left arm belonged to the Toy Magician and even had the same staff in its grip, and its left arm was like a Toy Soldier's but had a shield mounted on it. The weird mish-mashed monster bounced a few times on the spring its torso was connected to before it roared… cutely with three lights surging around it (2000/1000). "Meet the Jack'N Box!"

"Hmm, that's certainly new," Delano muttered to himself. "But not the good 'new', the 'White after Labor Day New', and it's totally bleh!"

"Appearances can be deceiving," Hardin stated as she pulled her hat down in front of her eyes. '_You're a testament to that…'_

"Maybe," Delano mused with a lick of his lips. "But it's still a designer's nightmare! Whoever designed that beast at I2 should have their eyes checked… Or at least get a touch from those designers from that one show a few years back. Hmm, what were they called? Something eye for the some guy?"

"… You love to hear yourself talk, don't you?" Hardin asked as she rolled her eyes behind her glasses.

"If you got the voice, flaunt it," Delano replied with a shrug.

"Doesn't matter to me," Hardin stated as she reached for her duel disk. "I activate the effect of Jack'N Box! By detaching one of his Overlay Units, I can select one of you cards and return it to the bottom of your deck!

"Three guesses who I'm starting with…"

One of the lights that surged around Jack'N Box immediately flew into the toy's chest, making the mish-mashed monster hold up its staff high into the air…

"Sorry little miss! Not happening!" Delano laughed loudly as one of his face down cards flipped up and immediately several chains erupted from the ground, surrounding Jack'N Box and bound him to the ground. "I chain your monster's effect with my trap card – The demon's chain: Fiendish Chain!

"Now, your monster's been rendered useless!"

As the chains tightened down on the Jack'N Box's body, Hardin merely blinked a few times before she tapped the brim of her hat. "Hmm, nice card. And a pretty rare one at that."

"Suckered quite a number of these from a bunch of punks in Kentucky a couple years back," Delano answered with his nose held high. "Made a lot of wagers back then, won them all, and took their cards for free. Suckers didn't know what hit them – Plus, I made quite a profit off of their cards.

"Damn punks didn't know when to shut up with their egotistical gloating."

'_The pot calling the kettle black…'_ Hardin thought to herself as she looked at the cards on the field. "Well then, it looks like Jack'N Box and DM Pawn Shop are useless at the moment. Oh well, one setback…

"I'll set a monster and end my turn."

The set monster materialized in front of Hardin, and Delano finally pushed himself off of the ground to stand atop of his feet. "Man, you just don't learn… No matter to me. My turn for the fun once more!"

Delano pulled off the top of his deck and spun the card in his fingers before he brought it up to his face. "Hmm… Interesting, very interesting! Arise, Phantom Beast Midnight-Panther!"

The ground in front of Delano began to cover with shadows, bulging up to reveal a sleek panther-like man with sharp red eyes and dressed in light bronze armor with a spear in its paw-like hands. The Panther snarled loudly as it spun the spear before it struck a dramatic pose (1100/1100 + 900/0). "And now for the battle phase! Midnight-Panther! You start! Attack!"

The Midnight-Panther slowly sunk into the ground, and disappeared into the shadows once more. Hardin lifted her duel disk up and prepared herself for the attack against her monsters… However, the Midnight-Panther slowly emerged in front of Hardin and took a jab towards Hardin with its spear. "What the?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention," Delano chuckled as Midnight-Panther slammed the side of the spear into Hardin's torso, knocking the air out of her and making a number of sparks erupt from the duel cuff on Hardin's arm. "Midnight-Panther's got the unique ability to attack you directly as long as there are at least three other Phantom Beasts in my graveyard. Of course all of the damage he does with this effect is sliced in half.

"Still makes for a good lightshow though…"

Hardin cursed under her breath as she watched the sparks disappear from the dueling cuff. (HLP: 5850)

"But enough about that – Wild Horn! Smash her face down monster!"

The enraged beast-warrior snorted loudly as it leapt across the field with its curved blade held over its head. However, just as the attack was about to strike the face down monster, several blue petals erupted from the alleyway's walls and crashed into Wild-Horn, which forced the monster to the ground. Hardin smirked as she pushed up her glasses and immediately drew from the top of her deck. "Not happening – I activate my trap card Floral Shield, not only does this card negate your attack, but it also allows me to draw an additional card from my deck."

"Alright, not bad, it's a little better," Delano admitted as he slipped a single card into his duel disk, making it appear behind his two Phantom Beasts. "But its not gonna help in the long run! I set a card face down and call it a turn!"

Once again, Hardin looked over the cards in her hand. '_… I have to play this just right. He's got Jack'N Box sealed, practically made my DM Pawn Shop useless, and has two powerful monsters – Both of which can override my defenses, and he's got a face down card to make this even worse…_

'_Of course, if I can get rid of Fiendish Chain, then my strategy can resume… Depends on the next card I draw.'_

And slowly, Hardin pulled off the top card from her deck and turned the card in front of her eyes. '… _I should remind myself to thank the fates above for this.'_

Hardin spun the card in between her fingers before she slipped the card into her duel disk, making the card materialize in front of her. "I play the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon! And I'll use it to take out your Fiendish Chain!"

As the powerful storm surged through the air, shattering a number of the chains in the process, Hardin couldn't help but notice that Delano only yawned in return. It was as if he was bored with the whole move, and didn't care that the Jack'N Box was finally freed from the Fiendish Chains.

'_That's going to change in a second,'_ Hardin thought to herself as she reached for her duel disk. "Now then, back before I was interrupted, I activate Jack'N Box's effect! I already told you what it can do, but now you can see it in action!

"I detach all three of my Overlay Units to return all of the cards on your field the bottom of your deck!"

Once again, Delano seemed bored with the move and calmly picked up the three cards from his duel disk and slipped them at the bottom of his deck of cards. "Hmm, I may have another card to have my eye on…"

Hardin shook her head as she watched the three cards on Delano's field slowly disappear from sight and leave the pink haired man with nothing left but only two cards in his hand. "We'll see how you'll feel after I reveal my DM Pawn Shop's ability!"

Three coins materialized in front of the DM Pawn Shop, making the spell card glow brightly, "Whenever an Overlay Unit is detached from an Exceed monster, for each Overlay Unit removed, my spell gains a Pawn Counter, and depending on the number of counters on the card, it gains different effects – One of which is to increase the attack and defense of each face up monster on my field by two hundred points for each Pawn Counter on my card!"

As Hardin announced this, a powerful golden aura erupted around Jack'N Box, making the mish-mash monster roar loudly out into the air (2000/1000 + 600/600). "And now, Jack'N Box! Attack him directly!"

With the toy staff lifted up into the air once more, the mish-mashed monster pointed the staff towards Delano – And immediately fired a powerful burst of Legos through air and smashed into the pink haired duel assassin. As soon as the blocks flew off of Delano's body, the sparks from the cuff erupted around Delano's wrist… But he just stood there with a large smile on his face. "Wow! What a light show!" (DLP: 5400)

As the sparks began to die down, Delano slowly lifted up another card from his hand, "And what an attack! Just what I needed too! I activate the effect of Phantom Beast Sapphire-Carbuncle in my hand!"

A blue ghostly figure appeared around Delano's body showing off a small blue furred cat like creature that had a pair of tails that ended with a pair of large sapphires. The ghostly kitten landed on Delano's shoulders and nuzzled up against him. "This little guy is really handy, as long as I have three Phantom Beasts in my graveyard. If I have them in there, then when I take damage, I can discard Sapphire here and get a Phantom Beast exclusive Damage Condensor…

"Now! To summon the Phantom Beast's ultimate beast!"

A large roar bellowed through the air as a lizard-like centaur smashed into the ground, covered with rock-like armor with spiked shields on its forearms. The beast snarled loudly as its powerful tail slammed into the ground, creating an indent in the earth (2200/2000 + 900/0). "Phantom Beast Rock-Lizard! Welcome to the field hunny!"

As soon as Delano said that, the Rock-Lizard groaned loudly in annoyance with its arms slumped to its sides.

'_I suppose if you're an infamous beast like that,'_ Hardin questioned with a large bead of sweat appearing on the side of her head. '_Then I guess you don't expect to be called that at all…'_

Hardin looked at the cards in her hand before she slipped a card from her hand into her duel disk. "I'll set one card face down and end my turn."

"Hoo boy! My turn!" Delano proclaimed as he drew from the top of his deck, giving him two cards in his hand. "I gotta hand it to ya Hardin, you're starting to rub on me the right way… Normally only guys do that."

'_Eeew…'_ Hardin thought with a disgusted look on her face.

"So tell ya what, I'll make this quick and painless… maybe," Delano stated with a sly grin on his face as he slapped a card onto his duel disk. "I'll start this turn by setting a monster face down, and then I'll go straight into the best part! Rock-Lizard take down that fashion nightmare!"

As the powerful Phantom Beast stomped across the ground, Hardin pushed a button on her duel disk. "I activate my trap!"

"Best be careful!" Delano laughed as the Rock-Lizard continued its charge towards the Jack'N Box. "You know what happens if you try to blow up Rock-Lizard with an effect!"

"Wasn't aiming to destroy him," Hardin stated as her face down card lifted up to reveal a trap card that showed a toy train that had a number of Toy Soldiers on the cargo train cars. "I activate Toy Train Supply! Now by returning two Toys from my graveyard to my deck, I can draw two cards from my deck and then discard one!

"So, I'll shuffle in my two Toy Soldiers…"

Hardin did as she said and slipped the two cards into her deck, and immediately shuffled the cards within her duel disk. It was then that Hardin slipped off the top two cards from her deck and spun one of the cards in her hand into her graveyard slot. "And draw!"

"Still won't do anything to stop my attack though!" Delano laughed.

And indeed, the pink haired man's words were true as the Rock-Lizard grabbed hold of Jack'N Box and slammed his head directly into Jack'N Box's, shattering the goofy looking mish-mashed monster. (HLP: 5350)

"And when Rock-Lizard destroys one of your monsters, you lose an additional five hundred points," Delano cackled as the powerful Phantom-Beast roared loudly, which caused the sparks on Hardin's cuff to spark up. "So yay!"

'… _Just… He's just weird…'_ Hardin questioned with a roll of her eyes as the sparks began to disappear. (HLP: 4850)

"And that's all I got for this turn," Delano announced with a shrug of his shoulders.

"But not for me," Hardin stated as a bright light slowly appeared in front of her. "You see, Jack'N Box has one more little trick, during the end phase he's destroyed, I can summon another Toy from my graveyard – And I choose Toy Soldier!"

The light popped to reveal the familiar Toy Soldier (800/400 + 600/0), only with its brow narrowed slightly at Delano.

"Ooh, looks like he's mad," Delano chuckled as Hardin drew from the top of her deck.

"With good reason," Hardin stated as two cards popped out from her deck. "But enough of that, since it's my standby phase again, I can special summon a familiar duo!"

In two familiar flashes of light, the two Toy Soldiers reappeared on the field, both of them with their pop-muskets at the ready (800/400 + 600/0 x2).

Delano sighed loudly at the sight of the three Toy Soldiers. "Them again? That's starting to get real stale here. Don't ya got any other moves other than that? At least I got me some new Phantom Beasts to charge up this deck of mine…"

"Then how about I show you one of my new toys?" Hardin replied as she reached for her duel disk, and pulled out a single card from her graveyard slot. "I held off on using this card when you made me discard it, but this'll do just fine! I activate the effect of my Toy Lion that you helped me ditch in my graveyard!"

Hardin slapped the card onto her duel disk and a small cloud of smoke popped in front of Hardin, to reveal a small stuffed lion doll that had a golden mane and a small pointy horn atop of its head. The three Toy Soldiers stepped away from the cute creature as it mewed loudly (100/100 + 600/0). "And if I have two or more Toys on my field, I can special summon this monster from my graveyard to my field.

"I remember earlier, you said that I was going to synch using my Toy Soldiers… Well, I'm going to take your advice right now! I synch my Toy Lion with two of my Toy Soldiers!"

The small Toy Lion roared cutely before it popped into a single ring of golden light that slowly wrapped around two of the Toy Soldiers, transforming them into six stars that flew up high into the air along with the ring of light. After a few seconds, the stars transformed into a tall pillar of light that crashed into the ground and Hardin threw her hand forward, "_With the innocence of children as reason, his justice will never fall – Synchro Summon Toy Saber King!"_

The light began to die down to reveal a rather tall and sleek armored version of the Toy Soldier, save for the fact that he was dressed in white and gold knight armor with a helmet that was shaped like that of a lion's head with a plastic white mane on the back. The knight swiftly drew a plastic rapier from his side and held it up into the air dramatically (2500/2100 + 600/0).

"Oooh, that's a new one too," Delano cooed as he waved his hand towards the Toy Saber King. "And it's got style too! It's too bad that he ties with my Rock-Lizard in strength…"

"That's why I've got this," Hardin stated as she spun around a card in her hand and slipped it into her duel disk. Almost instantly, a powerful surge of energy erupted around the Toy Saber King (3100/2100 + 1600/1600). "United We Stand! So, my king gets a boost for each face up monster on my field – More than enough to topple your lizard! And that's what I'm doing!"

The Toy Saber King dashed forward and brought his sword down onto the surprised Rock-Lizard and cleaved the Phantom Beast in two. For a moment, the two pieces just stood there, not moving until both pieces shattered into millions of pixels that flew backwards into Delano's body. As the pixels began to disappear around Delano's body, several sparks erupted from the cuff around his wrist, catching him off guard for a few seconds. "ACK!" (DLP: 3800)

Hardin didn't gloat, all she did was push up her glasses while Delano shook the pink sparks away from his wrist. "ACK! Ack! N-Not bad girlie… You're really starting to get on my good side…"

With a little bit of a hidden gag, Hardin reached into her duel disk, "O-kay… I activate Toy King Saber's effect, which allows me to pull a toy from my graveyard. So, I'll take one of my Toy Soldier's back."

Hardin held the card up before she slipped it into her hand and then took another card from her hand and placed it into her duel disk. "Then I'll set one card face down, and end my turn."

"Nervous about my face down monster?" Delano questioned as he pulled off the top card from his deck. "Well, how about I quell those fears? First, I'll…"

Delano stopped when he looked at the card he had held up, then shook his head a few times. Its then that he pulled the card up to his eyes… Allowing a smirk to slowly grace his lips as he looked at the card.

'… _He certainly doesn't have good a poker face,'_ Hardin thought to herself as Delano tossed the card into his hand and held up the other card.

"Uh, back to set one card face down, then I'll flip up my face down monster," Delano announced as his face down card flipped up to reveal a large, yet familiar jar with a single eye and mouth sticking out from the end of the Jar (700/600). "Morphing Jar! Now, I trust you know what this card can do…"

Hardin nodded as she slipped the few cards from her hand into her duel disk's graveyard slot while Delano did the same with his single card. '_Still… I'm a bit worried. Why would he make a face like that if he drew a real good card, but decided to dump it? Could it be another Phantom Beast I don't know about?'_

Both duelists drew five cards from their decks before Delano cackled loudly, "Now then… Let's test the waters shall we? I'll continue by playing the spell card – Dark Hole! So, all our monsters will say bye-bye!"

A powerful dark surge of energy appeared in the middle of the field, slowly drawing in every creature on the field towards it. However, Hardin simply lifted a card from her hand, slipped it into her graveyard slot and threw her hand forward. "It's at this time my king reigns supreme! Toy Saber King! Show your strength!"

The mighty toy monster leapt towards the Dark Hole with his sword raised high and immediately brought it down upon the magical spell. At first, Delano smirked as the blade was about to strike the dark hole, however, that smirk disappeared as the blade sliced right through the dark hole and transformed it into its card form – Shattering the spell into millions of pieces. "Whoa… THAT WAS COOL!"

"Uh, yeah," Hardin muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes. "Cool. My King's ability allows me to negate and destroy the activation of a spell or trap card once per turn, provided that I discard a toy from my hand – So, I discarded Toy Magician to do so."

"Well, good to know," Delano replied as he slapped one of his four remaining cards onto his duel disk. "Good thins that can't stop me from summoning another Phantom Beast, one that goes by the name of Ash-Ifrit!"

A powerful burst of flame erupted in front of Delano as a large form began to stagger from the flames. The beast itself looked to be a large lion with brown skin and a mane made completely out of flames that stood on its powerful hind legs that had hooves at the feet. Two large horns erupted from the top of the creature's skull and were shown to be a rich ebony color (1500/1200 + 900/0). The beast roared loudly as Delano lifted one card from his hand. "And he' got a real amazing ability, once per turn, I can discard one monster from my hand to pull a Phantom Beast from my graveyard. So, I'll ditch Phantom Beast Frost-Serpent, and pull out my Phantom Beast Sapphire-Carbuncle."

Delano immediately switched the cards before he held up the card he announced and then held his hand up into the air. "But that's not important. What is important is that now I can play this spell card without any worries! I activate Monster Reborn!"

The face down card that Delano had set earlier had lifted up, allowing a powerful bright light to illuminate in front of him and Hardin lifted her duel disk up in a defensive manner. '_He's bringing back Rock-Lizard!'_

However, when the light began to die down, what was in front of Delano was not the Rock-Lizard that Hardin was expecting. But rather, there was a long, blue scaled serpent that had several pairs of fin-like wings protruding from its body and with ice surrounding it (1500/1300 + 900/0). "This is Phantom Beast Frost-Serpent! And before you ask why I brought him out instead of old Rock-Lizard, we'll get to that in a minute.

"But before I continue my move, I have something to say."

"And what's that?" Hardin questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"You see, I've been with the BackDraft Corps for about…" Delano started until he held up his hand and began to count on his fingers. "Carry the two… Eight months now. They've given me a lot of interesting targets and have paid a little extra on the side to get me going.

"Tonight's no different. But, they told me that if I faced off against a Shadowchaser that I would be able to access a certain new card that they gave me for this job. I didn't know what they said since the card they gave was blank when they gave it to me."

'_Wait… he has a blank card in his deck?'_ Hardin thought to himself with a raised eyebrow.

"However, this turn, I drew that card," Delano stated with a smirk on his face. "However, as I looked at it, the card began to transform – A picture and card text appeared on it. I had never seen such a card before. But when I read the card, it was amazing!"

"… Too bad you discarded it," Hardin pointed out.

"Yeah… But we'll see how long that'll last! I activate the effect of Frost-Serpent! Now for each face up Phantom Beast, I can select one spell and or trap card on the field and for the rest of that turn, that card's effect is negated or that card cannot be activated! I choose United We Stand and your face down card!"

The Frost-Lizard hissed loudly before it opened its mouth and unleashed a powerful burst of air that flew around the Toy Saber King's body (4700/3700 – 1600/1600) and the face down card that Hardin had on her field. "So now, I'm safe to use that card that I was so graciously given… But to use it, it has to be in the graveyard. And even then, I have to sacrifice three monsters, two of which have to be the same type of monster.

"And wouldn't you know it, both of my Phantom Beasts, are Beast-Warrior monsters! So, I sacrifice Morphing Jar, Ash-Ifrit, and Frost-Serpent…"

Several shadows began to appear on the walls of the alleyway, dripping from the walls, almost as if the concrete itself was bleeding. The three monsters on Delano's field stepped away from the shadows as they began to encroach upon the three duel monsters, and they were visibly shaking. It was almost as if the duel monsters were showing fear of the mysterious event…

But there was good reason.

One of the shadows lifted off of the pavement and pounced on the Morphing Jar, shattering the creature into millions of pieces that were absorbed by the shadows. Then the shadows turned towards the Frost-Serpent, which made the creature fly away through the air, only to be grappled by some of the shadows that remained on the wall. Still, the air-born serpent tried to escape, but it was too late, the shadows engulfed it too…

And all that remained was the Ash-Ifrit… Who didn't run. Rather, the creature merely turned towards Delano and shook its head at the pink haired man before several shadows wrapped around the devilish creature and tore it apart.

Delano however merely laughed as he threw his head back, "Now… ARISE MY ASSET OF UTOPIA! UTOPIAN DESIRE!"

The shadows that had devoured all three of Delano's monsters began to shift about the field until they slithered behind him. The buildings behind Delano began to fade away into a dark mist that merely joined with the shadows. The darkness bubbled and boiled as it grew larger and larger behind the pink haired man who only continued to laugh loudly. The shadows began to harden, transforming into a large sphere that was covered with segmented armor and cannons all over it.

Whatever this… 'thing' was, it was only growing larger and larger, and on the front of the large sphere appeared to be what would best be described as an eyelid that slowly opened up to reveal a golden glass eye that seemed to only focus down on Hardin (0/0). Smoke erupted from the sphere's body as its eye zeroed in on the Shadowchaser.

"… That's not creepy at all," Hardin laughed nervously as she locked gazes with the large eye what was looking down on her. "And… And…"

"If you say its weak," Delano interrupted as he flung his arms to his sides, and tilted his head slightly. "That's a big mistake. This is the pinnacle of machines, a creature born from perfection… One that cannot be stopped.

"And thanks to Frost-Lizard, your only face down spell or trap is negated and so is the United We Stand equip, so your king will be toppled by my Utopian!"

"… That's not creepy either," Hardin stated with her tongue dripping with sarcasm.

"SILENCE!" Delano commanded as he threw his arm to the side. "Desire! Unleash the power of the utopia!"

All of the cannons on the large eye's body turned and aimed at the Toy Saber King, who merely held his sword up into the air and prepared to strike. Hardin held her hand up defensively, '_A monster with zero attack and defense, and he's attacking with it! That thing has to has a powerful effect!'_

Hardin's suspicions weren't wrong, as the cannons prepared to fire, a large mist began to float around Utopian Desire's body (0/0 + 5600/5600) and into the cannons. A few seconds later, all of the cannons fired and unleashed several blasts of light that flew through the air and crashed into the Toy Saber King's body, breaking its body into millions of pieces that flew past Hardin and crashed into the warehouse that was behind her – Creating large dents in the process. (HLP: 2350)

Hardin didn't even notice that the sparks were racing around her wrist when she realized that the attack was an actual assault, one that created damage around her in the real world. "W-What in the…"

"Heh, hehe…" Delano snickered with his head tilted slightly at a sick angle. "Awe… What's the matter… SHADOWCHASER? Can you not handle the power of Utopia? That's too bad…"

"What in the world is that thing?" Hardin questioned with her arm lifted up towards the large eye.

"Were you not listening?" Delano questioned with a lick of his lips as the cannons on the large eye began to return to normal. "This is my cherished and oh so divine Utopian Desire. When it battles another monster, its attack and defense increase by eight hundred points for each card on the field. Since there were seven on the field, its attack was boosted greatly…"

'_He must've wanted to take out the king first,'_ Hardin thought to herself as she slipped the card from her field to her graveyard. '_Since his effect can cripple a number of strategies…'_

"I'll set one card face down," Delano stated as the mist around his large monster's body began to wrap around him. "And end my turn."

'_If what he's saying is true,'_ Hardin thought to herself as she slowly drew, giving her five cards in her hand. '_Then if I attack that giant, then it'll only get stronger. Even if I do attack it and there was nothing else on my field, it'd still be at twenty-four hundred attack points._

'_Then again, he said it's only strong against battling. Spell and trap cards could be another story.'_

"I activate Smashing Ground!" Hardin announced as the spell card materialized in front of her. "So now your monster is…"

"I chain with my trap card!" Delano announced as his face down card lifted up. "Dark Bribe!"

The Spell card in front of Hardin immediately shattered into millions of pixels, making her lift her arm up, and with that, Hardin drew another card from her deck. '_Well… That was a bust. Time for plan B.'_

"I'll play the effect of my DM Pawn Shop," Hardin announced as the spell card shattered like glass, which made her Toy Soldier return to normal (800/400). "During my main phase, I can ditch it and draw one more card from my deck."

And Hardin did so.

However, as she looked over the card, she shook her head. '_Well that's just perfect. So much for a destiny draw. But, I can at least stall for a little bit.'_

"I'll switch my Toy Soldier to defense mode," Hardin announced as the small toy knelt down. "And end my turn."

"That's all you can do, I guess," Delano chuckled as he slowly pulled the top card from his deck. "Oh well… Hmm, I can't summon this monster, so I think I'll just blast away! Desire! Destroy that Toy Soldier!"

The large eye focused on the small soldier and all of the cannons immediately absorbed the mist (0/0 + 3200/3200), and immediately fired upon the small toy – Destroying it immediately.

Once the smoke cleared from the attack, Delano lifted up a card from his hand and held in front of his face. "One card set, and next turn, you won't be able to defend yourself."

Hardin took a deep breath as she reached for her deck. '_Well, time to see if Motou was right about the so-called 'Heart of the Cards'…'_

And like that, Hardin drew from her deck and turned the card around. '_Not the best… But not the worst either. I think I can make it work!'_

"First off, I'll flip up my face down monster, Sandcloud Knight!"

Hardin's face down monster immediately flipped up, revealing a tall and large knight dressed in bulky silver armor with a long, billowing orange duster. The knight smirked as he lifted up his rusted shield and sword (1400/1200). "And when this guy's flipped up, one Earth monster gets sent from my deck to the graveyard…"

Hardin fanned out the deck in front of her, and immediately selected her card of choice. Once she fitted the deck back into her duel disk, she slipped the card into her graveyard slot. "However, it's not staying there long! I play my face down card, Call of the Haunted!"

The ground began to shake and allowed a large golem that had a chessboard theme to its armor, a crown like head and a flowing red cape that billowed over its large frame (2800/2600). "Meet the Puppet King!"

"Is that supposed to be scary?" Delano questioned as he lifted his arms up in a shrug. "Cause Utopian Desire is not amused!"

"… How could you tell if an eye was happy or not?" Hardin asked with her head tilted slightly. "Doesn't matter, I activate the spell card Gift of the Martyr! Now, by releasing Sandcloud Knight, Puppet King becomes stronger!"

The Sandcloud Knight disappeared into a cloud of sand that wrapped around the Puppet King's body, covering the monster with rusty armor and a billowing orange scarf around its neck (2800/2600 + 1400/0).

'_If his face down card is something like Mirror Force,'_ Hardin thought to herself as she slowly lifted her hand up. '_Then I'm sunk. But I have nothing else but to try it!'_

"Puppet King! Royal Checker!"

Delano's eyes widened as the imposing Puppet King flew dashed over the field before it leapt into the air. The Utopian Desire narrowed its one eye at the descending Puppet King and aimed all of the cannons at the attacking Puppet King (0/0 + 3200/3200). However, the shots didn't strike the Puppet King as he fell towards the countering monster with its fist pulled back, and just as the Puppet King was about to slam into the larger monster, the large Puppet slammed its fist smack dab in the middle of the Utopian Desire's eye. The force of the attack was enough to make a number of cracks appear on the glass lens of the eye, with smoke erupting from the cracks.

The Utopian Desire seemed to screech loudly before its body began to fall apart, at the same time Delano grabbed his head and bellowed into the air. "ARGGHGGGHHHHHH!" (DLP: 2800)

As the pieces crashed all around Delano's body, the screaming duel assassin fell to the ground with sparks erupting from his wrist cuff. However, it was something that he didn't care for, he was more in pain from the fact that his big bad monster was falling apart around him. And when the cracked glass eye fell and shattered around him, Delano roared in pain.

Then, as the remains of the Utopian Desire began to fade into dust, Delano fell face first into the ground. Delano's labored breaths echoed throughout the alleyway as Hardin breathed a sigh of relief, '_Well, at the very least I managed to get rid of that eye-sore… Now, I just need to finish him off.'_

"I set one card face down, and end my turn!"

As the card materialized in front of Hardin, she noticed that Delano wasn't pushing himself up off of the ground. "Mr. Delano? You aren't dead, are you?"

"… I… I kinda wish I was…" Delano moaned loudly, not bothering to lift his head up. "This is so totally un-fabulous. I can't really move at the moment… My arms and legs don't really wanna listen at the moment."

"So, do you want to call it quits?" Hardin suggested as she crossed her arms under her chest.

"I'm willing to accept a mutual stalemate if you are," Delano replied as he slowly tried to push himself off of the ground, not making any headway though. "Unless you wanna come over here and handle my cards and I tell you want to do…"

"I think I'll pass on that," Hardin stated with a shrug. "But I'll accept your stalemate. Still, I'll have to call the cops and a bus for ya though, you seem quite the wreak."

"… Ah poo…" Delano moaned loudly. "Fine! Whatever… I give, I give… Thank goodness that these cuffs have an audio deactivation for these cuffs."

"Yeah, although, I have to ask," Hardin stated with her head tilted slightly. "Why did you bother using pink sparks?"

"… Why not? They're fabulous!" Delano laughed.

'_Somehow I thought that was the case,'_ Hardin thought as the holograms on the field began to fade away. "Now, if you'll just unlock the cuffs, I'll get to calling the cops and we'll get you all set up with a cozy cell for assault and battery."

"Double poo," Delano moaned loudly. "Whatever, not like I can run away. Cuffs, unlock now."

And with a small click, both of the duel cuffs unlocked and fell from both duelists' wrists. For a moment Hardin looked at her wrist and then shook her head, "You've got to be kidding me…"

"Nope!" Delano laughed loudly as Hardin slapped her forehead loudly.

She was at a loss for words with this character, but Hardin had to deal with weirdoes all the time – Just none that were human. But there was one thing that bothered Hardin about this duel… And as she approached the paralyzed Delano, Hardin voiced her concern, "Do you mind if I look at your cards? I have to confirm something…"

"Sure, knock yourself out," Delano gave his muffled reply. "I'll just be here, face first in the concrete. I'll be fine."

Hardin ignored the sarcasm as she knelt down and reached into the graveyard slot where a number of Delano's cards were in his duel disk. However, when she looked at the top card of the stack, her eyes narrowed. "… It's not there… Did it fall to the ground?"

Hardin looked around, but the Utopian Desire was nowhere in sight. '_Where in the world did that card come from and where did it go?'_

"Hey, what was that weird card you used?"

"Which card was that again?" Delano questioned.

Hardin sighed loudly as she placed the cards back into the duel disk and stood up, well, now she had a good reason to get on the computer tonight to look for that card. However, at the moment, she had bigger issues, so she puer hand onto the com-link at her ear and spoke clearly and calmly, "Mr. Vayne, do you copy?"

"My name's Delano," the pink haired man moaned.

"Y-Yeah… I'm here…"

"Thank goodness," Hardin sighed with her hands on her hips. "What in the world happened to you? You didn't answer me when I called you."

"I didn't know you had my phone number," Delano muttered loudly with a question mark appearing over his head.

"I just had to deal with some familiar faces," Hyde answered back before a loud sigh echoed through the com-link. "I'm okay though. What's the situation down where you are? Did you get attacked?"

"I suppose you could say that," Hardin replied. "I just had an encounter with something… Pink."

"It's my natural hair color, you know," Delano sniffled.

"Delano! I'm not talking to you!" Hardin growled narrowing her gaze down at the pink haired man.

"Well then stop saying stuff to me!" Delano barked back.

Hardin sighed loudly and was about to speak to Hyde again… But that all changed when a single sound pierced the air…

BANG!

_TBC_

**TTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Flute of Hammelin / Normal Spell / Effect:** Select 1 monster in your graveyard that was sent to the Graveyard this turn. Both players must send all cards from their hands and Decks with the same name as it to the graveyard. **  
>Image:<strong> A cloaked flute player riding atop of a rat in the light of the crescent moon.  
><em>This card was used in Yugioh GX."<em>

**Sandcloud Knight / Earth / LV. 4 / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1200 / Warrior/Effect:** [Flip] Send 1 EARTH monster from your deck to the graveyard.**  
>Description:<strong> A large warrior dressed in bulky armor with a long flowing brown scarf around his neck.  
><em>This card is a Japanese card that will appear in the pack Return of the Duelist.<em>

**Toy Lion / Earth / LV. 1 / ATK: 100 / DEF: 100 / Beast/Tuner:** If you have two or more 'Toy' monsters on your side of the field, you can special summon this card from your graveyard. If this card is removed from the field after special summoned with this effect, then remove this card from play.**  
>Description:<strong> A small stuffed lion with a horn sticking from its head and a white fur coat.

**Toy Saber King / Earth / LV. 7 / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2100 / Warrior/Synchro/Effect:** ['Toy Lion' + 2 or more 'Toy' monsters] Once per turn, when your opponent activates a monster, spell or trap effect, by discarding one 'Toy' monster from your hand, you may negate the effect and destroy that card. If this card destroys a monster as a result of battle, you may add one 'Toy' card from your **  
>Description:<strong> A large Toy Soldier dressed in white and golden armor that resembles that of a lion

**Jack'N Box / Earth / Rank 3 / ATK: 2000 / DEF: 1000 / Machine/Exceed/Effect:** [3 Level 3 Monsters] This card is considered to have 'Toy' in its name. By removing one Exceed Material from this card, you may select one card on the field and return it to the bottom of its owner's deck. During the end phase of the turn this card is destroyed, you may select one Level 3 or lower 'Toy' monster in your graveyard and special summon it. **  
>Description:<strong> A large goofy looking Jack-in-the-Box that looks to be made of a number of different looking toys – The head of the Toy Lion, the left arm of the Toy Magician, the torso of what appears to be the Tinplate Archduke, and a shield covered right arm.

**Toy Repair Shop / Normal Spell / Effect:** Add two 'Toy' monsters from your graveyard to your hand or deck.**  
>Image:<strong> An oddly familiar older man (Maximillion Pegasus) repainting a number of Toy Soldiers

**Toy Train Supply / Trap / Effect:** Select two 'Toy' monsters in your graveyard and shuffle them into your deck. Draw two cards then discard one card from your hand.  
><strong>Image:<strong> a toy train that had a number of Toy Soldiers on the cargo train cars

**DM Pawn Shop / Continuous Spell / Effect:** Each time an Overlay Unit is removed from an Exceed monster, place one 'Pawn Counter' on this card for each Overlay Unit removed. This card gains the following effects for each 'Pawn Counter' on this card:  
>1 or more: Increase the ATK and DEF of each face up monster on your side of the field by 200 points for each 'Pawn Counter' on this card.<br>2 or more: This card cannot be destroyed by non-targeting effects.  
>3 or more: By removing 3 'Pawn Counters' from this card, you may draw one card from your deck. Then destroy this card.<strong><br>Image:** An older gentleman (Solomen Motou) looking over an Exceed monster with a confused look on his face.

**Phantom Beast Ash-Ifrit / Fire / LV. 4 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1200 / Beast-Warrior/Effect:** Once per turn, you may discard one card from your hand. When this is done, you may select one 'Phantom Beast' or 'Gazelle the King of the Mythical Beasts' from your graveyard and add it to your hand. **  
>Description:<strong> a large lion with brown skin and a mane made completely out of flames that stood on its powerful hind legs that had hooves at the feet. Two large horns erupted from the top of the creature's skull and were shown to be a rich ebony color

**Phantom Beast Sapphire-Carbuncle / Light / LV. 1 / ATK: 300 / DEF: 200 / Beast-Warrior/Effect:** When you take Battle Damage while you have 3 or more 'Phantom Beasts' in your graveyard, you may discard this card from your hand. When this is done, you may special summon one 'Phantom Beast' with ATK equal to or less than the amount of damage you took from your deck. **  
>Description:<strong> a small blue furred cat like creature that had a pair of tails that ended with a pair of large sapphires

**Phantom Beast Frost-Serpent / Water / LV. 4 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1300 / Beast-Warrior/Effect:** Once per turn, for each face up 'Phantom Beast' and 'Gazelle, King of the Mythical Beasts' on your side of the field you may select one spell and trap card on the field. During the turn this effect is activated, the selected cards cannot activate their effects and have their effects negated (this effect cannot be chained to).  
><strong>Description:<strong> a long, blue scaled serpent that had several pairs of fin-like wings protruding from its body and with ice surrounding it

**Phantom Beast Midnight-Panther / Dark / LV. 4 / ATK: 1100 / DEF: 1100 / Beast-Warrior/Effect:** If there are three or more 'Phantom Beast' monsters in your graveyard, this card can attack your opponent's life points directly (any battle damage done by this card's effect is cut in half).**  
>Description:<strong> a sleek panther-like man with sharp red eyes and dressed in light bronze armor with a spear in its paw-like hands

**Utopian Desire / Dark / LV. 10 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Machine/Effect:** This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be special summoned except with its effect. While this card is in your graveyard, you may tribute three monsters on your side of the field, two of which must be the same type, you can special summon this card from your graveyard. This card cannot be destroyed by monster effects. When this monster battles another monster, for each card on the field, increase this card's ATK and DEF by 800 points during the damage step only.**  
>Description:<strong> A large sphere appeared to be what would best be described as an eyelid that slowly opened up to reveal a golden glass eye covered with segmented armor with several cannons mounted on its body.

**TTTTTTTTTT**

_**What is that mysterious sound?**_

_**What about the mysterious Utopian Desire? Where did it come from? Where did it go?**_

_**Will Lux-Nero update faster this time?**_

_**Probably.**_

_**Next time, we learn the origin of that mysterious noise and find out the name of the mysterious tattooed man…**_

_**Next time:**_

_**Draw 11**_

_**Stonehenge Method **_


	12. Draw 11: Stonehenge Method

_**The Greek Historian – Thucydides once said that 'The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.' And in all honesty, I applaud those who practically live by this quote, it shows that they can see what the world truly is and are not afraid of taking it head on.**_

_**I even try to follow this quote as well at times, and I try to instill this into my students whenever I teach a new Shadowchaser. **_

_**But, what I find more interesting is that a number of major criminals that the Shadowchasers have to deal with follow this quote as well. We've got the Ophidia who tried a number of times to take over the world (even as far as to flood the damn thing), there was that one dragon guy in Los Angeles who… Did something, I can't remember since I wasn't there. I even heard that one guy wanted to become a god, and he started out as a devil.**_

_**Seems like almost every villain is reaching for the stars – And they make for amazing villains! **_

_**Although, now that I'm facing against one of those villains, one who is willing to do whatever it takes to get their goal done – No matter what happens, no matter who stands in his way, and there's only one thing that I can do against a character like that…**_

_**And that's to meet him head on with a determination just as strong!**_

_**BOOOO-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!**_

**TTTTTTTTTTT**

_**Draw 11**_

_**Stonehenge Method**_

**TTTTTTTT**

Before Kuroi's duel with Lord Zedd, before Hardin's duel with Delano, everything was quiet inside of the warehouse itself. Several freshly delivered crates lined the floor and walls, each filled to the brim with various medical supplies.

And hiding amongst them, was none other than the silver coated, walking mystery of Irving, merely sitting down on the ground behind a number of the crates with his hands holding up what appeared to be bunch of string that was wrapped around each of his fingers. Every few seconds he'd bring his fingers together, and pull them away from each other, showing that the string was wrapped into a different image every time.

"Eifel Tower…

"Cat's Cradle…"

"Jalal…"

In case you were wondering, yes, when Irving pulled his fingers away that time, the string had been manipulated to look like the very face of the leaders of the Shadowchasers. How Irving was able to pull off such a detailed art with just string in between his fingers would be a mystery that only the heavens above would know.

Of course, the image disappeared as he brought his hands together once more and immediately pulled the hands apart to reveal that the string had the silhouette of a dynamic figure with wings, claws, and a long tail to it. Although, when the mysterious Shadowchaser looked at the image, he paused, "Huh… Is this a dragon or something? I gotta start paying attention when I do these things."

Before Irving could perform another neat trick with the strings, a loud smashing sound echoed throughout the entire warehouse, making Irving drop the string and make him stand up straight. It was at that moment that the ear piece that Irving had in his ear came to life, "Kuroi! What was that sound?"

"I-Irving! I… I just s-saw someone enter the b-b-building!"

Irving turned towards the front of the building where he saw the silhouette of a tall man in between the two doors of the warehouse. "I got a visual on the guy… But what was that sound I just heard?"

"Um… I-It was h-him. He… He just p-punched through the lock!"

With his hand on his chin, Irving watched as the mysterious man walked deeper into the warehouse, his scarfs billowing with each step before he slammed the doors shut. Irving muttered under his breath, "… I see… Kuroi, have you seen anyone else?"

"W-Well… There w-was a woman," Kuroi answered to himself. "B-But, she s-seemed to be just w-w-wandering around, s-s-singing…"

"Hmm, Kuroi, I'm going to contact the others and watch this guy," Irving stated as he slowly stepped from behind the crates, but quickly ducked behind some more crates. "If you see anyone else, be sure to contact me immediately."

"R-Roger…"

And with that, the com between Kuroi and Irving turned off, and he immediately brought his hand up to his propped up collar to access the com-link with the others, however, the only thing that Irving got in return was a load of static in his ear. '_… Is it jammed? But I just used it, there's no way that it could be jammed this quickly…'_

While Irving was lost in his thoughts, the mysterious man continued his trek through the path that was made from the stacked crates, his gloved fingers trailed the wooden crates as he looked on them. "Let's see… Syringes, blood packs, needles… Quite the variety we've got here. I think there might also be a number of meds here, not a bad haul actually.

"Of course, I'm more interested in something a little more lively… You can come on out Shadowchaser, I know you're hiding in here somewhere!"

Irving adjusted his hat slightly, but kept himself hidden, "Awe, what gave it away?"

The mysterious man merely shook his head as he lifted his arms up into the air. "Are you seriously going to make me play a game of hide and go seek? Well, it sounds fun, but I'd rather do something a little more physical.

"But to answer your question, it wouldn't be that hard to determine you guys would try to trap us – After all, you've arrested a member of the BackDraft Group who knew of our plans for this night. And let's face it, Bugbears aren't the most diligent of Shadowkind out there."

"Two things," Irving called out from his hiding spot. "One, don't you mean BackDraft Corps?"

"Meh, it doesn't matter," the mystery man replied as he jumped onto one of the crates. "Those two idiot brothers basically just ripped off the name from an old Japanese cartoon they watched as kids – A couple of knuckleheads if you ask me."

"That brings me to my second question," Irving stated as he slowly traversed the shadows of the crates. "Why are you here then? If you don't like working for the BackDraft Corps, and you knew us Shadowchasers were going to be here, then why come?"

The mysterious man slowly held his hand up into the air, clenching his fist tightly as smoke began to appear between his grip. "Why you ask? Why? The answer's simple actually…"

Three orbs of red energy popped out from the man's hand, circling his fist before he snapped his arm to the side, which sent the orbs of energy flying through the air until they crashed into one of the crates with a powerful explosion. From the explosion, Irving leapt through the air towards the mysterious man, with his fist pulled back.

As soon as Irving landed on the crate that the mysterious man was standing on (which allowed Irving to see that the man in question was the same man that Kuroi had seen), he threw his punch directly at the tattooed man's face, only for the man to jump back at the last second and dodge the attack. As the weirdly dressed and tattooed man flew through the air, he grabbed one end of his scarf and lifted it up into the air.

Almost immediately, the scarf straightened out and hardened into what could best be described as a sword of sorts. And when the man's feet touched down on one of the crates, he immediately leapt back towards Irving with his sword raised up. "HIIIIIIIIII-YAAAAAAH!"

The sword was immediately brought down on the coated Shadowchaser, who in turn snapped his hands up into the air and caught the sword with his bare hands. "Nice shot!"

"Thanks!" the mysterious tattooed man used his other hand to grip the other end of the scarf, which resulted in another sword. Without a moment's hesitation, the man immediately took a stab towards Irving.

However, the equally weird Shadowchaser snapped his right leg up and slammed it into the side of the blade, just making it barely nick the side of his coat, but miss his body. Using that same leg, Irving pulled it back and whacked it into the tattooed man's left knee, knocking him off balance. The mysterious tattooed man began to fall face first towards the crate that he and Irving were standing on…

However, when he released the cloth-like swords, the tattooed man used his hands and pushed himself away from the crate and through the air, spinning backwards until he landed onto another crate.

Both Irving and the tattooed man leered at each other, silence filled the warehouse as the air began to grow heavy with the tension that the two created.

And then, both the silence and tension shattered like glass as the two men laughed loudly in the air. Irving crossed his arms over his chest as the mysterious tattooed man placed his hands on his hips, "Not too shabby Shadowchaser!"

"I could say the same thing to you, Mr. Tattoo!" Irving laughed back.

"Please, please, no need to be so formal here," the tattooed man stated as he lifted his hand up and flicked his fingers to reveal a small card in his hand. "Please, take my card."

With a spin of his wrist, the tattooed man threw the card through the air towards Irving who caught the card in between two of his fingers. As Irving lifted the card up, he kept one eye on the tattooed man and one on the card, "Hmm… So, you like to call yourself Nazca?"

"Yep!" Nazca laughed as he pointed towards the tattoo on his face. "This kind of gives it away though, let me tell ya, you never wanna lose a bet while you're in college while you down an uncountable number of tequila shots."

"I know how that goes," Irving sighed loudly with a shake of his head. "But still, you could've done the surgery or the acid to get rid of it."

"I don't want that stuff near my eyes!" Nazca shouted back with his arms thrown to the sides. A few seconds later, the tattooed man merely brought one of his gloved hands up to his mouth and coughed a few times to regain his composure. "My apologies about that, I didn't mean to go on a tangent there… But, my eyes are one of the few good things I've got to my name.

"Now that I've finally found you, the show can finally begin so let's get this curtain drawn out!"

"Oh? So you really aren't after the medical supplies," Irving stated as he tapped the crate he was standing on a few times. "So, that would mean that you're after us Shadowchasers? Looking to take us out so we won't get in the way of your big plans?"

Nazca simply tapped his nose a few times, "I know it sounds a bit clichéd, but you Shadowchasers are a mere nuisance for the plan that I am currently fixing up. But should I at least get rid of this motely crew of Jalal's lapdogs, then there would be at the very most one week before another competent group of chasers would be assigned to this city.

"And you can never underestimate what can happen in a week…"

"That's assuming you can get rid of us," Irving stated as he shifted his legs a little bit, holding his arms up in front of his chest into a fighter's stance. "And I gotta tell ya, we're more stubborn than a pack of pitbulls! And we're just as tough too!"

Nazca grabbed ahold of both ends of his scarf, and immediately the fabric began to harden once more and become sharp as they were earlier. Holding up one of the blades, Nazca gripped onto it tightly and began make his own stance. "I'd be disappointed if you lot weren't. Now, have at you!"

Both men leapt into the air at the same time, Nazca spun around with both blades at the ready while Irving pulled back both of his hands. When both were mere inches from each other, Nazca brought both blades at a horizontal slash and Irving matched him back with both of his hands grabbing both blades at the same time.

"CHANCE!" Nazca yelled as he released his grip of the blades, making them turn back into cloth.

It was then that Nazca threw both of his hands forward, towards Irving's stomach and immediately called forth two more orbs of red energy that slammed into Irving. The force pushed the Shadowchaser back and as Nazca was smirking at this development… He found himself being pulled as well!

Irving still had his scarf tightly clamped in his hands so both men were flying through the air with Nazca's force driving the two. However, Irving was doing more than gripping onto Nazca's scarf, he was using his legs to twist past the twin orbs of energy that flew up into the air and crashed into the steel ceiling. But, Irving wasn't done, when he was twisting, he turned enough to make Nazca fly over him.

And when Irving opened his hands and released the scarf, Nazca flew over the crates at an incredible speed, so fast that wood planks from the crates were pulled off with the force.

Nazca was heading straight towards one of the concrete walls of the warehouse, however, he himself tucked into his body and spun around so he could place both of his feet and hands onto the wall, which created a rather large indentation in the wall. "Damn it! My throat!"

"Better pay attention!"

Nazca lifted his head up just in time to see Irving diving through the air towards him with a fist pulled back. Nazca pushed away from the wall at the last second to see Irving slam his fist into the wall – And the crater that Nazca had created was completely obliterated from the wall, with debris falling out of the now broken warehouse.

Landing on the ground, Nazca immediately dashed through the crates. But thanks to the footsteps that echoed through the air, he knew that Irving was right behind him. So with a smirk, Nazca gripped his scarf once more, but instead pulled it off of from his neck. Once again, the cloth hardened, but this time it shaped itself into a spear. Then with a quick spin, Nazca took a long stab at Irving who was right behind him.

Just as the spear was about to make contact, Irving leapt into the air and slammed his foot into Nazca's chest, sending the tattooed man skidding backwards. "URK!"

When Irving landed on the ground, the sound of splintering wood and shattering glass echoed through the warehouse and he struck a dramatic pose with his arms crossed. "You're made out of some tough stuff Nazca – Normally people can't take those harsh combos, but you've taken them quite well.

"Barely a scratch on ya…"

"Look who's talking," Nazca coughed out as he snapped the spear into the ground. "My fabric arts haven't even touched ya! Well, maybe they got ya a little, but that's not good enough in my book."

"Fabric Arts?" Irving questioned with his hand placed at his chin. "Like the Iron Arms?"

"Close, but no cigar," Nazca explained as he placed the hardened scarf on his shoulders. "It's a new kind of magic that was perfected in the last fifty years in the Rockies, it allows the user to channel their magical power into cloth and manipulate it. Of course, it requires a certain kind of material to be mixed in with the cloth, a material that's only found in the big Rock Candy Mountains… I mean Rocky Mountains.

"And even then, it takes a few years to master this art. Luckily, I had a few years to kill."

"Hmm, you're really interesting Nazca," Irving admitted with his arms crossed. "Too bad you've sided with a life of crime."

"That's only yours and your boss's perspective," Nazca stated as he released the cloth, allowing it to fall over his neck. "What some people view as a crime could be viewed as a deed – Is stealing medicine for a sick family member considered a crime? Is killing someone who's about to kill the love of your life considered a crime?

"And don't give me a bullshit contradictive answer that its partially a crime and partially it isn't. Its either a yes or no…"

"Then I won't give an answer," Irving stated with a shake of his head. "As a man of the law and as a man of his family, I cannot help but give a contradictive answer. A living contradiction – That's practically every living thing, and I won't deny it. But, my answer is I'll only follow my beliefs!"

"Nice resolve," Nazca stated as he placed his hand on the scarf once more. "Then how about we settle this in a much more peaceful manner – Dueling as it were?"

Irving reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket duel disk, "Sounds like a plan! Although, I'd like to see more of your fabric arts, they look rather unique."

As if to show off, Nazca pulled the scarf from his neck and wrapped it around his left arm, making it harden and shape itself into a duel disk. "Indeed, it's quite a unique skill to have… Too bad you're gonna have to deal with my dueling skills, just like my fabric arts, are almost one of a kind."

"Glad to hear it!" Irving stated as he slipped a dueling deck into his duel disk. "It'd be boring if you didn't have a unique strategy!" (ILP: 8000)

"I aim to please," Nazca chuckled back as both duelists drew the top five cards from their decks. (NLP: 8000)

"DUEL!"

"I think it's only fair that I get the first move," Nazca stated as he plucked a sixth card into his hand. "After all, you managed to get more blows on me when we we're still fighting."

"Go for it," Irving replied as he ran a gloved finger atop of the five cards in his hand. '_I'm already coming up with a killer plan to counter anything you've got!'_

"First things first," Nazca announced as he spun a card around in his hand, revealing a green bordered card, "I'll play the spell card, Dark World Dealings! Now, I don't think I have to explain what this card is capable of, so let's get to drawing and dropping."

Irving nodded as both duelists drew from the top of their decks, and then both of them held a card forward. Irving spun the card around to reveal an odd looking monster that looked to be a small hedgehog that had a number of bolts in its back. "I'll discard Quillbolt Hedgehog from my hand."

"And I'll drop the monster Sunken Treasure," Nazca announced as the card was placed into his cloth-like duel disk. "And for an added bonus, I'll set a monster and one card face down…"

Both of the set cards popped up in front of Nazca, and the odd tattooed man threw his hand to the side, "And that's the start of this duel."

'_One…'_

And when that was said, Irving pulled off the top card from his deck, spun it in his fingers and brought it up to his collar. "Nice, very nice, too bad I'm about to blow your move right out of the water! I call out Drillago!"

The ground in front of Irving shattered, immediately unleashing a large machine that had several drills protruding from its mechanical body. The drills spun wildly as the machine lumbered about (1600/1100).

Nazca rasied an eyebrow at the sight of the weird looking monster, and shook his head, "I'm sure you've got a reason for running such an artifact…"

"Yep!" Irving laughed as he pumped his arms up into the air. "I'll even tell ya it! I'm using this card because it looks awesome!"

For a moment, it seemed as though Nazca hadn't heard Irving, but then with a shake of his tattooed head, Nazca erupted into laughter. "Nice one! I like it when people actually use cards that they like, even if they aren't that useful!

"It's not smart, but I can respect that sort of idiocy!"

"Glad to hear it!" Irving stated as he threw his fist forward. "Which is why I'm having my hunk of scrap dash across the field and excavate right through your defense!"

The Drillago sped across the field and crashed all of its frontal drills into the face down monster, however, the drill machine bounced backwards with several chips of rock flying backwards. As the Drillago stumbled backwards, a large green and blue stoned statue with its stone hands held in front of its main body (300/2000). (ILP: 7200)

"Sorry, but your drill can't bust through this stone," Nazca chuckled with a wag of his finger. "My Stone Statue of the Aztecs it's a bit too strong for it, and you paid the price for that recklessness."

"Maybe, but I had to at least try," Irving admitted as he lifted one card from his hand and slipped it into his duel disk. "Besides, it still had that flair to it to make it look cool!"

"… You're an odd Shadowchaser, aren't you?" Nazca stated as he pulled off the top card from his deck and looked at it.

'_There's two...'_

"When you've been in this business as long as I have," Irving explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "You learn that everyone's odd, weird, or is a freak. Its all about perspective, I myself think I'm more of an eccentric Shadowchaser than odd myself. But then again, its all about perspective."

"Well then, I'll perceive that you're about to lose some more life points!" Nazca announced as he reached for his duel disk. "I relinquish my Stone Statue of the Aztecs in order to summon this!"

A large stone fist erupted from the ground beneath the Stone Statue, immediately shattering the monster into millions of shards. And almost immediately, the rest of the owner of that fist pulled itself from the ground to reveal a large gun metal gray stone-giant with a weird hat-like design atop of its head. The monster knelt down slightly and bowed its head in respect (2200/1100). "Allow me to introduce the Ancient Giant, a humble fellow who acts as a guardian."

"Then what does he guard?" Irving questioned with his hand at his collar.

"Uh… I haven't actually drawn it yet," Nazca coughed out as he held another card from his hand. "But, that doesn't mean I can't bring its guardian out here! And now, I'll play this spell card, Pot of Duality!"

As Nazca shifted the card into his duel disk, a large dual faced pot appeared in front of him, one face was green and had a face of laughter on it, while the other face was calm and serene. "Now, I'm sure I don't have to explain this card to you, but…"

Three cards materialized in front of Nazca, their fronts faced towards Irving showing off three different cards – The first was a card that Irving recognized, it was a second Stone Statue of the Aztecs, the second card was a little different, it showed an ornate key floating in mid-air, and the third one had a large giant on the card art that looked to be made of the same material as the Stone Statue of the Aztecs.

_'Ah... There's the third...'_

"Hmm… Choices, choices, choices," Nazca muttered out loud as he rubbed his chin. "I think I'll go with my Ancient Key card!"

The other two cards vanished while the selected card appeared in Nazca's hand. As the duel disk shuffled Nazca's deck, Irving held his hand up. "And what does your key unlock?"

"For now? Nothing," Nazca answered as he held his hand up into the air. "And besides, you've got bigger problems to worry about! Like my Ancient Giant! Smash his drill!"

The large stone warrior charged over the field and promptly slammed its stone cold fist into the Drillago's 'face', shattering the drill into hundreds of little pieces that scattered about the warehouse. (ILP: 6600)

"Not a bad attack," Irving admitted with a chuckle. "You certainly managed to get an early lead, bravo!"

"… I said it once, and I'll say it again," Nazca stated. "You're an odd one. Do you usually applaud your opponents?"

"Really, it all depends," Irving answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "So far, you've done nothing but shown respect to me, even when you were trying to kill me, even then, I could only show respect."

"Heh, respect?" Nazca chuckled under his breath. "Wow, haven't heard that for ages. It's almost comical to hear that from a Shadowchaser."

'_Comical?'_ Irving thought to himself as he adjusted his hat.

"But enough of this," Nazca replied as he lifted a card up. "To end my turn, I'll set one card face down, and end my turn!"

As the card materialized in front of Nazca, Irving drew from the top of his deck. '_At this point in time, all I can do is defend, nothing really worthwhile in my hand. At the very least, I can have some fun with him.'_

"I set a defense, and end my turn!" Irving announced as he slapped the monster onto his duel disk. "And I'll end my turn!"

The face down monster materialized in front of Irving, and Nazca raised an eyebrow. "What in the world? I thought you Shadowchasers were supposed to be good duelists."

"…" Irving remained silent as he crossed his arms.

"Oh well, if you're gonna just take it, I'll dish it!" Nazca announced as he turned the top card from his deck up, and a smirk appeared on his face.

'_And there's the fourth!'_

"First off, I'll play the card I just drew, welcome to the place where my Ancient Giant protects! The sacred Ancient City!"

Nazca lifted his duel disk up and allowed the field card slot to open up. Within the next couple seconds, the mysterious tattooed man slipped a single card into the slot and it closed automatically. The ground began to shake as a large temple began to emerge from behind Nazca's form, a lush jungle sprouting up from around both duelists. Ancient walls covered with many paintings surrounded the two duelists, each of them displaying very ancient monsters.

"Amazing," Irving muttered under his breath as he placed a hand on one of the ruined walls that was close to him. To his surprise, he could actually feel the wall with his gloved hands, "What in the world?"

"This is a cornerstone of the history of Duel Monsters," Nazca stated with his hands held up. "Within the hallowed halls of this ancient temple rests a terrible creature that only few have seen and lived to tell the tale."

"Oh ho!" Irving laughed loudly as he crossed his arms. "Is this creature gonna be appearing in our duel?"

"… Nope," Nazca replied with a shrug.

Irving nearly fell over when he heard that.

"And it's a real good reason for that actually," Nazca replied as he rolled his hand near his head. "These cards are actually really rare, there's rumor that there's only about ten or less sets of these cards in the world that are in good condition. I was unable to completely get all seven of the cards needed to make this combo work…

"Heck, I only have four cards, and that's not counting the copies that I have of those specific cards. The people who own complete sets were unwilling to give up their cards that I needed, and I had no interest in paying absurd amounts of cash for pieces of cardstock. Or to pay for hits just for some cards, just seems like a waste of money."

"Huh, I didn't expect that from you," Irving answered with a rub of his covered chin. "Don't you bad guys usually have an onslaught of really rare cards at your fingertips?"

"Meh, I've got better things I can do with my money," Nazca answered with a shake of his head. "Besides, those 'bad guys' you're referring to don't really have that duelist spirit that both you and I seem to exude – Most of the time, they make their cards from magic or from some space orb, cards that aren't in the database of the Duel Monsters' card library.

"If you don't have respect for the game, nay, respect for the cards, then you'll only lose to a real duelist!"

"… You do realize that just contradicted yourself, right?" Irving pointed out.

"I still stand by what I said," Nazca spat back while he rubbed his fingers together. "Cash pays the bills, not CARDSTOCK!"

'_A bad guy worrying about bills,'_ Irving thought with a small chuckled. '_That's a new motive to resort to evil witchcraft and robbery…'_

"But enough about that!" Nazca announced as he slipped a card from his hand into his duel disk's card slot. "I activate the key of your destruction… And quite literally, it's a key! The powerful Ancient Key!"

A large, brass and ancient key appeared over Nazca's head, and he immediately grabbed the key with his free hand. "Now, with this, I can call two more protectors from the depths of my deck, so, come on out!"

Nazca spun around and threw the key towards the ruins behind him, with a bright light, the ground in front of the ancient ruins erupting. From the erupted ground two large jagged stone golems appeared in front of Nazca, each of them half the size of the Ancient Giant, but both of them as serious (400/2000 x2). "Stone Giants! I summon the two of them in defense mode!"

"Well, that's certainly a good idea," Irving admitted with a nod of his head. "They're not exactly the kings of attack."

"Quite so, which is why I intend on not attacking this turn," Nazca snickered loudly as he slipped another card from his hand into his duel disk. "I activate the spell card, the Fountain of Youth!"

A large fountain appeared behind Nazca's body, with fancy stone statues that had the uncanny resemblance to that of the Dark Magician Girl. "It an odd looking card I'll admit, but this card has a very potent ability – If I don't attack this turn, then I can gain four hundred life points for each Rock-Type monster on my field during my end phase.

"And speaking of my end phase, before I end my turn, I'll play one of my two face down cards – Meet my Ancient's Curse!"

The face down card on Nazca's left revealed a trap card that had several Golem Sentries looming over the Black Scorpion member – Chick the Yellow in an ancient temple. Nazca chuckled to himself as he lifted up his duel disk, "I'll admit that I don't have all the cards necessary to use the signature combo of the Ancient Seven cards, but thanks to these two cards, my strategy can be just as deadly!"

"I don't know what combo you're talking about," Irving admitted with a shrug. "So, I have nothing to compare it to."

"You will soon," Nazca snickered as he threw his arm to the side. "Turn end! And now, since I didn't attack with my three guardians, their curse hits me! Each one of them forces me to pay three hundred life points…

"But… Thanks to my spell, I'll gain a net increase of three hundred life points! And thanks to my trap, you'll have to pay the exact same life points!"

"What?" Irving yelped as all three of the stone golems in front of Nazca began to glow brightly. "URK!"

Two ghostly spirits appeared from Nazca and Irving's bodies, each of them being phantasmal versions of the two duelists – It was then that the two Stone Giants leapt towards Irving's phantasm while the Ancient Giant leapt towards Nazca and at the same time, all three of the golems struck! Both Irving and Nazca cried out as their life points began to dwindle. (ILP: 5700) (NLP: 7100)

"Heh, it's been a while since I felt pain," Nazca snickered as his fountain began to glow brightly. "I owe a lot to you, Shadowchaser, and I owe my fountain to restore my life points!" (NLP: 8300)

"Man, that's a nasty combo," Irving coughed as he drew from the top of his deck. "You can burn me out in a few turns while making sure that you can heal yourself in the process. An interesting burn strategy, didn't think those existed now-a-days…"

"You'd be surprised what strategies can work now-a-days," Nazca replied with his arms crossed. "Now please make your move."

"Oh, I'll make a move alright," Irving chuckled as he turned the card around in his hand and immediately slapped the card onto his duel disk. "And it's gonna be BIG! First, I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to crush your face down card!"

Nazca lifted his hand up to block the wind that shattered his face down Bottomless Trap Hole. "Great..."

"Next, I summon Tin Goldfish in attack mode!"

A large splash of water popped in front of Irving, which allowed a small red brass and blue plated toy goldfish to appear on the field in front of the coated duelist (800/2000).

"… That's supposed to be BIG?" Nazca questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, I'm so scared…"

"You will be in a second," Irving chuckled as he spun another card from his hand. "Cause when my big fish is normal summoned, I can special summon another monster from my hand, and I choose Red Gadget!"

As Irving slapped the card onto his duel disk, a large red robot with a bulky gear like body (1300/1500) that bounced around the holographic field. "And when this little guy is summoned, I can take another Gadget from my deck to my hand, specifically the Yellow Gadget."

Another card popped out from Irving's deck and into his hand. "Of course, that doesn't matter at the moment, what really matters is that I'm about to do! I reveal my face down monster, the Tuner monster Dark Screw!"

Irving's face down monster flipped up, revealing a rather large cartoonish, rust covered screw that spun around the dueling field (100/100).

"Heh, a synchro summon?" Nazca chuckled with a wag of his finger. "If you wanna waste your time with a pointless summon, then by all means feel free to do so. No matter what you summon you won't be able to derail my strategy."

"Well, I can at least try!" Irving shouted loudly as he lifted his duel disk up to his mouth. "Cause you wanna know something… It's SHOWTIME!"

All three of Irving's monsters flashed a deep black light before they disappeared from the field, which was unusual since Irving was Synchro Summoning…

However, before Nazca could question what was happening, the ground begun to shake terribly and made the tattooed man stagger about. It was then that an extremely large, black metal fist crashed through the earth behind Irving with the rest of the arm raising out of the ground as well. Within a few seconds, the rest of the metallic being pulled itself from the ground to reveal a black steel armored titan with extremely large armored arms and atop of its human-like face was an orange glassed helmet that gleamed in the light. (3200/2000).

Nazca staggered backwards until he fell on his backside, "W-What in the world is that thing?"

Irving sighed loudly as he shook his head, "Not a fan of classics, are we? Well, allow me to make the first introduction! This is the big one himself, a Game-N-Watch card from the mind of Pegasus – The Black Megadeus!"

"Game-N-Watch?" Nazca questioned as he still leered at the large robot in front of him.

"It's no big secret that Pegasus was a fan of watching cartoons," Irving explained with his hands held up. "But he was also a fan of other forms of animation and video games, so much so that he decided create a number of cards based on various forms of media – The B.E.S. cards are a prime example of them since they were from the Gradius games.

"Another rumor is that there are cards based on some Japanese superheroes, a video game that involves a white haired devil hunter, and then there's this big guy right here! This guy's from an animation that was a real hit back when I was younger, and to have even this card really brings me back to my days as a young lad…

"Ahem, anyway, this is more than just a fan favorite card, this card is gonna be the one to take ya down!"

'_It certainly has the strength to do so,'_ Nazca thought as Irving's duel disk began to glow brightly. "Huh? What's your disk doing?"

"Oh that," Irving chuckled as he lifted up his duel disk. "Dark Screw has an ability, when used for a Synchro summon of a Machine-Type Synchro monster, I can pull a monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand, save for Dark Screw itself. So, I'll take back my Tin Goldfish!

"But what's more important is that I'm about to take down your Ancient Giant! Black Megadeus! Use Rock Smash! And while on that note, use your special ability! Intimidation!"

As the large black robot lifted up one of its fists, Irving pulled a single card from his graveyard and tucked it into his coat. The Megadeus threw its powerful fist towards the Stone Giant, and at the same time a powerful burst of air shot from the fist and struck the living statue (2200/1100 - 1100/0) before the fist crashed into the Ancient Giant and crushed it into the ground in front of Nazca. "URK!" (NLP: 6200)

As the debris from the attack bounced around Nazca's body, the tattooed man glared daggers at the coat wearing Shadowchaser. "What the hell just happened? And did you just make a Pokemon reference?"

"My Black Megadeus's special ability," Irving explained as the large robot behind him pulled its fist back. "You see, when it attacks an opposing monster, I can remove one Machine-Type monster from my graveyard – Like my Drillago - and cut the opposing monster's attack in half! So any giant you manage to throw at the big guy right here will just be smashed back into the ground!"

Irving pulled a single card from his hand and slipped the card into his duel disk, "And to make this turn complete, I'll set a face down card."

"No," Nazca coughed as he stood up straight. "It's not complete, not yet anyway. I activate the effect of my City!"

The large temple that was behind Nazca opened up and a large shadowed form leapt from large building and landed in front of the tattooed man. The shadows on the monster began to crawl away from the monster and revealed the Ancient Giant standing in front of Nazca without so much as a scratch on it (2200/1100)!

As the Giant knelt down with its arms crossed, Nazca rubbed the bridge of his nose with a large grin on his face. "Heh… Even if you manage to crumble my guardians, they'll just return to normal thanks to my city… And as long as my city stands, so will they!"

"I see… That's an impressive strategy," Irving stated as Nazca pulled off the top card from his deck.

"And its only gonna get better," Nazca announced as he slipped a card into his duel disk. "I activate a second Pot of Duality! I don't need to tell you what this card can do, of course."

Three more cards materialized in front of Nazca, this time revealing one monster – Gaia Plate…

One trap – Call of the Haunted…

And one spell card – The Dark Door…

"I think I'll go with the Dark Door," Nazca chuckled as the card shrunk down and appeared in his hand. Immediately, the other two cards disappeared and Nazca held up two more cards from his dwindling hand. "And I'll play it… Along with my spell card – Field Barrier!"

As the two spell cards appeared on the far ends of Nazca, two powerful bursts of white light surrounded his field – One created a faint light around the Ancient City, while the second created a door-like wall in between Nazca's and Irving's fields. "Now, my city is completely indestructible, and both of us are limited to one monster attacking each turn…

"But as you've seen, I have no need to attack."

"And you must not have a need to play any more spells or trap cards," Irving pointed out.

Nazca looked over his field, noticing that his Ancient Key, Ancient's Curse, Field Barrier, Dark Door, and Fountain of Youth did fill up his spell and trap zone.

"Indeed I don't," Nazca chuckled as he held up his duel disk. "A full spell and trap card field is fine by me! Especially since I don't have a need for any other cards out on my field, perhaps you need a reminder of what my combo is capable of!

"Turn end!"

And once again, the spectral forms of Nazca and Irving appeared over them and the three cursed giants flew through the air to slam into the spectral forms. (NLP: 5300) (ILP: 4800)

It was then that the Fountain of Youth behind Nazca glowed brightly and engulfed Nazca's body. (NLP: 6500)

"It's an interesting strategy," Irving stated as he cracked his neck loudly before he drew from his deck. "But it's kinda boring…"

"I don't care if it's boring," Nazca spat back with his tongue sticking out. "I'm going with practicality, not flair! It's a children's card game for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, a game where there are holographic monsters that you can use to attack your opponent with," Irving retorted as he slipped a single card into his duel disk. "Especially when you can pull off a super, awesome, dynamic move! Like this one! I activate the equip spell: K – Killer Drill!"

The Black Megadeus lifted up its left arm and hand, revealing that its hand disappeared into its arm. A few seconds later, a large golden drill erupted from where its hand disappeared into, which spun around at high speed. The large robot threw its drill arm through the air a few times before it held it up in front of its face.

"Uh… A drill?" Nazca questioned as he took a step back. "Why do I think this won't end well for me?"

"Cause it won't," Irving chuckled as he threw his fist forward. "Black Megadeus! GIGA DRILL!"

Without even a moment's hesitation, the extremely large robot threw its first forward and slammed the drill right into Ancient Giant's body, shattering it into millions of pebbles that flew around the Ancient City. (NLP: 3200)

"What the hell!" Nazca snarled loudly as he threw his arm to the side. "Why did I just lose life points?"

"I equipped my monster with a drill," Irving retorted with his arms crossed. "Didn't that kind of imply that I was gonna pull off a piercing ability or something like that? But anyway, yeah, that big drill just gave my Megadeus the ability to crush right through your strategy!"

"A trampling ability!" Nazca questioned as he staggered backwards. For a moment, Nazca just stood there with his eyes widened… At least until he began to laugh slightly. "Heh…

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IMPRESSIVE! YOU AREN'T ONE OF THE TENACIOUS SHADOWCHASERS AROUND FOR NOTHING!"

Irving lifted his arms up slightly defensively. "I'm flattered, but you really don't fit the profile for being an insane villain."

Nazca quickly composed himself and shook his head, "How true that is. I guess I'll have to remain calm and collected… Anything else for this turn?"

Irving looked at his small hand and slipped a single card into his duel disk, making it appear in front of him. "I'm good now, if you wanna go crazy again though, feel free to do so."

With a snap of the top card from his deck, Nazca looked at the cards he had left. "I would, but with what I have just pulled, that won't be a problem at all. It's time to change gears and strategies – I doubt I'd last another turn or two at this rate. So, its time to cut my losses – I summon Cave Explorer!"

The ground in front of Nazca opened up to reveal a rather rugged and soot covered explorer (completely with a signature hat and whip). The explorer pulled himself out of the hole he was in and began to dust himself off (0/0). "I'll admit he's not the strongest monster around, but when he's successfully normal summoned when I have another rock monster on my field, I can destroy him and any number of spells and traps I've got on my side of the field.

"I'll relinquish the Dark Door, Ancient Key Ancient's Curse, and my Fountain of Youth!"

With a large smirk on his face, the Cave explorer dashed around the field, grabbing all of the announced cards on Nazca's field and leapt back into the hole, and almost immediately, the the tattooed duelist was engulfed in a warm, dull light. "Aaahhh, that's what I'm talking about. Oh yes, and for each spell and trap that was destroyed, I gain eight hundred life points. A nice trade off." (NLP: 6400)

"Bring them up all you want," Irving stated as he adjusted his hat. "I'll just bring them back down!"

"We'll see about that," Nazca announced as he lifted up one of the three cards in his hand. "I believe you mentioned earlier that me having a full spell and trap field would just hinder me – Well, with what I've got, it won't be a problem right now.

"I activate the continuous spell card – Rock Tumbler!"

As Nazca slipped the card into his duel disk, a large, yet weird machine appeared behind all three of his monsters, making the golems and giant look back at the machine. "I hear this little device was actually quite popular with kids back before the eighties. For the life of me, I have no clue why."

"It was before my generation, that's for sure," Irving replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "So, what does this card do?"

"I'm glad you asked," Nazca stated as the machine began to spin, creating a large amount of energy from the device. "You see, when this card is activated, I'm required to declare a level. And as long as this card is on the field, all current Rock Monsters become that level, and since my Ancient Giant is level five and my two Stone Giants are level three, I'll meet in the middle and change them all to level four."

There was no significant change to the three monsters on Nazca's field, they just stood there in front of their master and knelt slightly. "And now… Time for me to put my plan into action. I construct the Overlay Network!"

"An Xyz summon?" Irving questioned as the three rock monsters on Nazca's field transformed into three dark yellow lights that flew into the air. "That's kind of unexpected…"

"Perhaps," Nazca chuckled with a wag of his finger, as a powerful vortex appeared in between the two duelists, engulfing the three lights. "But that's what's needed in order to get ahead in life – The unexpected. And now, rise up my benevolent creature!"

The vortex exploded with energy, almost flooding the holographic temple with the green and yellow bursting aura. A loud roar soon followed as a completely devious black shadow loomed over both duelists…

Only to disappear as the aura did.

Irving looked down from where he was and noticed that before Nazca was what appeared to be a small wolf cub that was made out of stone with a large blue sapphire embedded in its head. The beast seemed to be sleeping soundly, despite the fact there were three floating lights around its body (800/800). "I'll end my turn by setting one card face down."

Nazca's set card appeared behind the mysterious creature. "So, come Shadowchaser. Do you have what it takes to defeat this Ancient Titan of Gaia?"

"… That's a titan?" Irving questioned as he slowly drew from his deck. "I guess they'll give anything a title like that now-a-days."

'_I have to be careful here, this monster is composed of three specific monsters – Its effect has to be dangerous… I could summon a few more monsters, but I'd rather play it safe until I know what that thing can do. _

'_Besides, I've got the big guy here to help out!'_

"I'll go straight into my battle phase," Irving announced as he pumped his fist up into the air. "Black Megadeus! Attack that sleeping little man! And don't forget, my monster's equip card, so you'll be taking damage through defense!"

"That's all an good," Nazca stated with a smirk on his face. "But, my monster's in attack mode!"

"Wait, what?" Irving questioned as Nazca pushed a button on his duel disk.

"So during the damage step," Nazca announced as the Black Megadeus threw its drill fist towards the surprisingly still sleeping titan. "I can activate this quick-play spell card – Overlay Booster! Now, by removing all of the Overlay Units from my titan, it gains four hundred attack points for each one…"

'_Why in the world would he do that?'_ Irving thought as all three of the Overlay Units flew into the Titan's sapphire core. '_It'd be about two thousand attack points – Did he do that to soften the blow?'_

However, the moment that all of the overlay units flew into the Xyz monster, the Ancient Titan's eyes opened up to reveal a pair of fiery red rubies that gleamed brightly in the light. And slowly, the monster began to grow, with its rocky body drawing loose stones from the Ancient City, making it become larger and larger until the titan had two more wolf-like heads on its body with several jagged rocks protruding from its massive body (800/800 + 1200/1200 + 2400/2400). "Another thing I forgot to mention about my Titan… The overlay units act as limiters for my monster instead of providing a good ability…

"For each Overlay unit my monster had, it would lose eight hundred attack and defense points. And normally, in order for the monster to be free, all overlay units would have to be removed with his effect to withstand a battle or card effect – But since it no longer has any of them, it lives up to its name!"

Irving's eyes widened from the shadows of his collar and hat, as the three heads of the large Titan sunk their teeth into the Black Megadeus's body, and ripping the machine apart. (ILP: 3600)

Irving lifted his arms up to block any of the falling debris from the large machine, "URK!"

"What's the matter?" Nazca chuckled with his arms lifted up. "Not what you expected to face against?"

"Actually, I was more surprised for you to change up your strategy so quickly," Irving answered as he dusted off his overcoat. "I was so surprised that I forgot about my machine's ability... Oh well. Anyway, it normally it takes a couple of turns to switch from burn to pure offense, and you did it by having a monster shy one hundred attack points from the Ultimate Dragon."

Tucking his cards atop of his hat, Irving had to clap his hands a few times, "Bravo. Encore, my foe."

Nazca rubbed the back of his head, "You really are a strange one aren't you? Asking your opponent to attack you again isn't the smartest move."

"True, but then again," Irving chuckled as he snatched his hand. "You're not the most normal opponent I've had to face – Sure, you look human, but you've got that mysterious aura around ya, and like I said, I can't help but feel pumped against facing an opponent who can shift gears so quickly!

"I can feel it, you're someone I shouldn't take likely – And I won't! Especially when you've got that beasty right there…"

"Speaking of my rock," Nazca chuckled as he twirled some of his red hair in between his fingers. "I should point out that my spell's effect is permanent. So unless you get him face down or remove him from the field, he'll stay as strong as the Ultimate Dragon.

"But please, try your hardest to defeat him – I want ya to."

Irving pulled a card from his hand and slapped it onto his duel disk, giving him a single face down monster to protect him. "I set a monster, and I end my turn!"

Nazca slowly drew from the top of his deck and looked at the card '_Hmm, a second Ancient Curse, this card won't work now that I shifted gears, but it could be good as a bluff.'_

"I'll start by setting a face down card," Nazca announced as the card appeared behind his Ancient Titan of Gaia. "And go straight into my battle phase as well! Now my Titan, attack his face down monster!"

The large rock monster roared loudly before it slammed one of its rocky paws into the face down monster, shattering the card to reveal a small toy robot with a glass bulb for a head (400/400). The machine beeped loudly before it broke into millions of pieces. "Bad move Nazca! That monster just now was Card Trooper! So now I can pull another card from my deck!"

"That's fine with me," Nazca stated with his arms crossed. "I'll end my turn."

_Even if he does manage to blow away my Titan, my field spell is still out on the field, and thanks to its effect, I can bring back my titan without having to wake it up like before and crush whatever he summons! And I'll have more than enough life points to survive his next turn.'_

Irving took a deep breath before he drew a second time in the last minute, "Alright Nazca… This has been fun, but I have a job to finish, and you're part of that job! I summon Tin Goldfish again!"

In a small splash of water, the small cute fish-like toy reappeared on the field, the wind-up key on its back spinning slightly (800/2000). Irving held up another card from his hand before he slapped it onto his duel disk, "And remember, my Goldfish can summon another monster from my hand, and I happen to still have my Yellow Gadget!"

When Irving slapped the card onto his duel disk, the small yellow robot with gears sticking out of its body appeared, jumping up and down excitedly (1200/1200).

"And thanks to its effect, I'll pull Green Gadget from my deck," Irving announced as he added another card from his deck to his hand, giving him three cards in his hand. "Of course, I can't use him, but I can use the card that my Card Trooper gave me – I play Iron Call!"

As Irving lifted the card up over his head, creating a number of waves to surge from the card, "Now, since I have at least one Machine-Type monster, I can special summon another Machine from my graveyard, just so long as its below level four.

"And luckily for me, I've still got my Red Gadget!"

In a flash of light, the first Gadget appeared on the field, only it was covered with rust (1300/1500). "Of course, a monster special summoned with Iron Call has its effect negated, so I can't pull a second Yellow Gadget. But that's a moot point!"

A powerful vortex emerged in front of Irving as all three of his machines flew up into the air, "You're not the only one who can Xyz Summon! I overlay all three of my machines!"

The three machines began to transform into three bright lights that swirled through the air before they were drawn into the vortex. For a moment, nothing happened until a powerful explosion rocked the area – Holographic smoke and flames danced in between the two duelists until a sleek, black armored fist punched through the smoke and sent it scattering through the air.

Standing before Irving was another robotic being shaped like a human, this one covered with black, oriental armor that had a futuristic feel to it – covered with chains, dragon head shaped gauntlets, yellow clawed feet, a crown of golden horns and a sleek build. The oddest thing about this machine was that it seemed to have a long and thick stream of silver hair that extended down past the machine's feet.

The robot pulled its fist back and slowly extended its other, holding up two fingers up as if it were a martial artist (2400/2200), allowing the three lights to fly around it's body. Irving cracked his knuckles loudly as he chuckled, "Meet the Kokuryuu Warrior, one of my favorite monsters around…"

"Yeesh, is this another reference card?" Nazca questioned as he rubbed the back of his head. "This one seems familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

Irving shrugged his shoulders, "Does it really matter? This duel's almost done."

"I guess it doesn't matter then," Nazca sighed as he tugged on his scarf. "So, what pray tell does this eye-sore do?"

"We'll get to that when its relevant," Irving replied as he pushed a button on his duel disk, making his face down card flip up, revealing a young warrior surrounded by three cards, all with a large shadow looming over him and the cards. "For now, I'll end my turn."

Nazca raised an eyebrow as he drew the top card from his deck, "What? No awesome comeback? No blazing glory? Not even a comment?"

"Well," Irving chuckled sheepishly as he adjusted his hat. "Well, I guess this was the best move I could make – I mean, I could defend, but where would that get me? You'd probably just summon something else, or draw a piercing card."

How ironic Irving would say that – The card that Nazca drew was Fairy Meteor Crush. '_One turn too late. I could've defeated him if I drew this last turn.'_

Nazca shook his head, "So, you thought to save yourself by summoning something bigger? Not too smart."

"Actually it is," Irving replied as he crossed his arms. "You see, if Kokuryuu is in attack mode, he can't be destroyed in battle with a monster that has a higher attack score. So, I kinda have a shield right here."

"Right," Nazca muttered as he looked over the field. '_Let's see… He has a total of four cards now – Green Gadget in his hand plus another card, this mechanical shield, and his mystery face down card. If he Mirror Force or Limiter Removal, he would've used them already to stop my attacks. It's not a Dimensional Fissure, but it could be bottomless – That's why he couldn't use it against Gaia, he was summoned with only eight hundred attack points. _

'_So, I think it's safe to battle this piece of scrap-iron – A few more turns, and I'll be able to crush through that monster. Probably has to use its overlay units to defend itself anyway._

'_So, I'll go attack this monster!'_

"If you want me to attack," Nazca chuckled as he snapped his fingers, making Gaia roar loudly. "Then I'm happy to oblige!"

Gaia roared loudly as it lifted its rocky claw up into the air, and began to bring it down upon Kokuryuu.

Irving however threw his arm to the side as he pushed a button on his duel disk, "I play the trap card – Battle Gift!"

"Let me guess," Nazca sighed with a shake of his head. "This card somehow boosts your monster to be stronger than mine, right?"

"Actually, it's the opposite really," Irving stated as a dark aura surged around Kokuryuu (2400/2200 – 2400/0). "It drains all of the attack points of my monster… And gives them to one monster on your field. Of course, that means, your monster."

Nazca blinked a few times as he watched his Ancient Titan of Gaia snarl loudly (4400/4400 + 2400/0) as the energy flew into its body. "What in the world are you planning?"

"Nothing really," Irving answered with a shrug. "This trap is just supposed to give me three extra cards during the end phase this card was activated. Oh and by the way, both of our monsters still have to battle, so you can't back off now."

"That's… Fine?" Nazca questioned. '_Are you throwing the match?'_

Gaia slammed the claw into the Kokuryuu Warrior, pushing the monster back with several flames erupting from the mechanical warrior's body. However, the flames only danced around Kokuryuu as it leapt from Gaia's claw, "During the damage step, I activate Kokuryuu's ability!"

One of the overlay units crashed into Kokuryuu's chest, making the machine bring its hands together and draw the flames to its hands. "By removing one of its overlay units, I don't take the damage from the attack… You do!"

Nazca's eyes widened as he watched the mechanical warrior throw its hands forward and unleash the flames right past Gaia, on the way right towards the mysterious tattooed man. "Oh, crap…"

The flames crashed into Nazca's body and send him skidding backwards with the flames, shattering all of the cards on his field in the process. All the while, he remained silent as his life points immediately dropped down. (NLP: 0)

Irving bowed slightly towards Nazca who was knocked onto his back, "And that is game, my foe."

With his duel disk turned off, Irving slowly stepped towards Nazca, his coat billowing through the air in the warehouse. "And I think it's time you gave me some answers. You can't beat me in a fight, you can beat me in a duel, it's time to accept your defeat gracefully."

"Heh…" Nazca scoffed as he got to his feet, reaching into his coat. "Defeat? Yes, you're right, this is my defeat. But, if you think I'm going to be graceful…

"Screw that."

With one swift movement, Nazca pulled his hand from his coat and pointed what he pulled out right at Irving – And Irving stopped moving and slowly lifted his hands up, "Now why'd you have to go and pull a stupid stunt like that? I thought you were better than that."

In Nazca's hand was a handgun, and not just any gun – This was a 44 Magnum, one of the most powerful handguns in the world and a classic among gun collectors and movie fanatics, and was capable of blowing a person's head clear off with one clean shot. Irving shook his head at Nazca who had the gun trained on him, "I gotta ask you one question, punk…"

"If you pull that Dirty Harry line right now," Nazca warned with a blood vessel appearing on the side of his head. "I'll drop my hammer right now – And as it stands, I might just drop this hammer anyway."

"I thought you were better than that, Nazca," Irving sighed with a shake of his head. "You had skills – Your dueling tactics, your fabric arts, heck even that magic – Why are you resorting to using a gun?"

"Remember when I said I had better uses for my money?" Nazca stated as he adjusted his site with the gun. "This is one of them – I like firearms, especially classics like this one. Now, I have no intention of being interrogated, Shadowchaser. I'll shoot, don't think that I won't."

"Very well," Irving growled as he tightened his gloved hands into fists. "But know this: You're only going to be able get one shot in, and if you miss, you're not going to be able to get a second shot in."

"Oh, I'm well aware," Nazca chuckled as he lifted the gun up. "And I've got a way to make sure that I can end this with just one bullet…"

Irving watched in horror as Nazca lifted the barrel of the gun just right next to his head of red hair, a devious smirk on his face. "Let me tell you something Shadowchaser – Do I feel lucky? Well, do I?

"Let's find out…"

"NAZCA! NO!" Irving roared as he began to dash towards the suicidal man.

Meanwhile, outside the warehouse, Hyde sighed loudly as he lit up a cigarette. Dealing with all those Living Masquerades was tiring and he even took a few blows – Nothing too difficult to deal with, but still hurt like hell. But if this was an ambush against him, then more than likely the others had to deal with this stuff…

At the moment, he was in front of the warehouse, looking over a rather dazed Kuroi who mumbled something about some old TV show.

As Hyde was about to see if Kuroi was okay, a single, yet loud gunshot rocketed through the air, making Hyde narrow his eyes and Kuroi fall to the ground. "What the hell just happened?"

_TBC_

**TTTTTT**

**Card Stats**

**Ancient City / Field Spell / Effect:** During each End Phase, you can Special Summon 1 "Stone Giant' or 'Ancient" monster that was destroyed (either by battle or by card effect) during that turn from your graveyard. **  
>Image:<strong> a lush jungle with a large Ancient temple with walls covered with many paintings each of them displaying very ancient monsters

**Ancient Key / Continuous Spell / Effect:** When you activate this card, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Stone Giants" from your hand or Deck in Attack position. During your Main Phase, you can send this face-up card and 2 "Stone Giants" (whose battle positions have been changed twice each) you control to the graveyard to add 1 "Ancient Gate' From your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. **  
>Image: <strong>An ancient and fancy

**Stone Giant / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 400 / DEF: 2000 / Rock/Effect:** This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be special summoned except with 'Ancient Key". During your end phase, if this card did not attack this turn, pay 500 life points.**  
>Description:<strong> A jagged stone golem made out of marble

**Ancient Giant / Earth / LV. 5 / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 1100 / Rock/Effect:** During your End Phase, if this card did not attack this turn, pay 300 life points.**  
>Description:<strong> A tall, sleek stone golem made out of slate.  
><em>The previous four cards were used by Solomen Mutou in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime. <em>

**Tin Goldfish / Water / LV. 4 ATK: 800 / DEF: 2000 / Machine/Effect:** When this card is Normal Summoned, you can special summon 1 Level 4 monster from your hand.**  
>Description:<strong> a small red brass and blue plated toy goldfish

**Iron Call / Normal Spell / Effect:** If you control a face-up Machine-Type monster Target 1 Level 4 or lower Machine-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special summon that target. Negate its effect(s), and destroy it during the End Phase. **  
>Image:<strong> A cartoonish machine creating radio waves to another machine that's dragging itself out of a hole.  
><em>The Previous two cards appear in the Duel Terminal packs<em>

**Cave Explorer / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Rock/Effect:** When this card is successfully normal summoned, if you have another face up Rock-Type monster on the field, you may destroy any number of Spell and Trap cards on your side of the field and this card. For each Spell and Trap card destroyed with this effect, increase your life points by 800 points. **  
>Description:<strong> a rather rugged and soot covered explorer (completely with a signature hat and whip)

**Fountain of Youth / Continuous Spell / Effect:** During your end phase, if you did not enter your Battle Phase, increase your life points by 400 points for each Rock-Type monster on your field.**  
>Image:<strong> A large fountain with fancy stone statues that had the uncanny resemblance to that of the Dark Magician Girl

**Ancient's Curse / Continuous Trap / Effect:** Each time you pay life points from your monsters' effects, inflict damage to your opponent's life points equal to the life points that you paid.**  
>Image:<strong> several Golem Sentries looming over the Black Scorpion member – Chick the Yellow in an ancient temple

**Rock Tumbler / Continuous Spell / Effect:** When this card is activated, declare one level. As long as this card is face up on the field, all face up Rock-Type monsters on the field are considered this level. After your second end phase after this card is activated, destroy this card.**  
>Image:<strong> A large, yet weird machine with a several rocks inside a tumbler device

**Ancient Titan of Gaia / Earth / Rank 4 / ATK: 3200 / DEF: 3200 / Rock/Xyz/Effect:** [3 Level 4 Rock-Type monsters] Decrease the ATK and DEF of this card by 800 for each Overlay Unit on this card. When this card would be destroyed (either through battle or by card effect) you can removed one Overlay Unit from this card instead (battle damage still applies).**  
>Description:<strong> A large rocky Cerberus with ruby red eyes, jagged rock-like fur and a large sapphire in its chest.

**Overlay Booster / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** Select one face up Exceed monster on the field that has at least one Overlay unit on it. Remove all Overlay units from the selected monster and increase its ATK and DEF by 400 for each Overlay Unit removed with this card's effect.**  
>Image:<strong> Magi Magi Magician Girl surrounded by a fiery aura.

**Dark Screw / Dark / LV. 1 / ATK: 100 / DEF: 100 / Machine/Tuner:** When this card is used for a synchro summon of a Machine-Type Synchro Monster, you may select one monster from your graveyard and add it to your hand (other than 'Dark Screw').**  
>Description:<strong>

**Black Megadeus / Dark / LV. 9 / ATK: 3200 / DEF: 2000 / Machine/Synchro/Effect:** [1 DARK Machine-Type Tuner + 2 or more Machine-Type Non-Tuner monsters] As long as this card is face-up on the field and you have at least 2 Machine-Type monsters in your graveyard, Machine-Type monsters on your side of the field are unaffected by monster effects. When this card attacks an opponent's monster, by removing 1 Machine-Type monster from your graveyard, you can halve the ATK of opposing monster until the end phase.  
><strong>Description:<strong> a black steel armored titan with extremely large armored arms and atop of its human-like face was an orange glassed helmet that gleamed in the light

**K – Killer Drill! / Equip Spell / Effect:** This card can only be equipped to a Warrior or Machine-Type monster. When the equipped monster battles a monster in defense mode with a lower DEF than the equipped monster's ATK, inflict the difference to your opponent's life points. If the equipped monster would be affected by an opposing spell or trap card effect, you can destroy this card to negate the effect and destroy the card.**  
>Image:<strong> A large yellow drill with several wires erupting from it with a K melded into the card.

**Battle Gift / Normal Trap / Effect:** Select one face up monster on your side of the field and one monster on your opponent's side of the field. Lower the ATK of the selected monster on your side of the field to 0 and increase the ATK of the selected monster on your opponent's side of the field gains ATK equal to the original ATK of the selected monster on your side of the field until the end phase. During the turn this card is activated, both monsters must battle. During the end phase this card is activated, draw 3 cards from your deck.**  
>Image:<strong> A powerful warrior covered with a dark aura with three cards surrounding it.

**Kokuryuu Warrior / Fire / Rank 4 / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 2200 / Machine/Xyz/Effect:** [3 Level 4 Machine-Type monsters] While this card is in attack mode, it cannot be destroyed in battle with a monster that has higher ATK. When this card battles an opponent's monster, during the damage step, by removing one Overlay Unit from this card, any battle damage done to you is done to your opponent instead.**  
>Description:<strong> a robotic being shaped like a human, this one covered with black, oriental armor that had a futuristic feel to it – covered with chains, dragon head shaped gauntlets, yellow clawed feet, a crown of golden horns and a sleek build. The oddest thing about this machine was that it seemed to have a long and thick stream of silver hair that extended down past the machine's feet

**Sunken Treasure / Water / LV. 1 / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 / Rock/Effect:** ?**  
>Description:<strong> ?

**TTTTTTT**

_**Wow, after the long wait, we get that?**_

_**Interesting. **_

_**But with this darkness gone, we go into the next chapter of our mystery…**_

_**With their only lead about the BackDraf Corps down and out, Hyde goes on another information search.**_

_**But, will it be enough to find more information?**_

_**Or will there be more than meets the eye?**_

_**Next time!**_

_**Draw 12**_

_**After the Struggle**_


End file.
